In a time of big shocks, Australians want bigger answers

April 30, 2026 — 7:30pm

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Australia is living through what feels like a rolling series of shocks – economic, geopolitical, social, environmental and technological. In other words, a polycrisis.

And yet, as I scan the news each day, I feel that much of our policy and political response feels oddly small – as if we haven’t caught up to the enormity of the shocks that are already here, or those that are incoming. People realise that the whirlwind of problems requires a bolder response, given so many of them are structural and the result of decades of inadequate approaches to reform.

Nowhere is the dissonance between public sentiment and political response clearer than in energy policy. Recent global tensions have reinforced something Australians already understand: our exposure to international shocks leaves us vulnerable. While price spikes may ease, the underlying vulnerability does not. Increasingly, energy is seen not just as an environmental challenge, but as one of national economic security and resilience.

Even before the Iran war began, research conducted in February by 89 Degrees East throws light on an Australian public that is not confused or conflicted, but pragmatic and........

© Brisbane Times