Albanese’s petrol price cut is derided as dumb populism. But it goes deeper than you think

April 3, 2026 — 5:00am

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This week was all about signals. The prime minister’s formal national address on Wednesday night, as the war in Iran dragged on and a fuel crisis hove into view, had no announcements. We weren’t going to war or commencing rationing or entering a state of emergency. Instead, Anthony Albanese was using the power of his office at a time of widespread anxiety to focus the nation’s attention on what the government had already been saying. It was, frankly, not weighty enough for the forum; a national address that could have been an email, some quipped online. But as a signal, it was something an email couldn’t be: a projection of gravity, seriousness, and sober acknowledgment of an impending crisis.

On Monday, the Albanese government announced it would halve the fuel excise for three months, thereby dampening the surging cost of petrol, much as the opposition had been demanding for a few days. Economists were aghast, pointing out this is inflationary, will drive the Reserve Bank to hike the interest rate again, and takes a huge chunk out of a budget that was already searching far and wide for savings. It also encourages people to use more fuel at a time we’d really rather they used less. In short, it messes with the price signal that is meant to prevent fuel shortages.

The economic argument, though, quickly gets a little more complicated. Our demand for petrol is famously........

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