Last Thursday on Music Band T-shirt Day, the Prime Minister chose to wear a T-shirt from the Australian band Radio Birdman.
We can only guess at his reason for doing so.
Perhaps he chose them for the uncanny commentary their song titles make on the Prime Minister’s term in office…?
Who can forget the 1977s classic title Descent into the Maelstrom, or their commentary on the government’s legislative agenda, Subterfuge?
Radio Birdman nailed this government’s future with their song, Time to Fall and with the follow-up Found Dead.
The Prime Minister’s fortunes hail from 1981’s Hanging On, and if we see one more selfie then perhaps 1988’s Burn My Eye.
And, from 1977, something no Australian is ever likely to say of the Albanese government: You’re Gonna Miss Me.
A more appropriate T-shirt would have been AC/DC’s ode to dodgy cross-bench deals: Dirty Deals Done Dirt Cheap. At least it might evoke a bit of gallows humour from the citizenry curdling in Labor’s sour Utopia.
Jim Chalmers didn’t take part in band T-shirt day, which is a shame because he missed his chance to wear an AC/DC T-shirt that sums up his economic policy perfectly: Highway to Hell.
Aptly describing Jim Chalmers’ cost of living crisis would be Hungry Cannibals – or he could be saving that one for after agriculture is ‘Net-Zeroed’ and we’re left with a choice of eating ‘ze bugs’ or … uh … the vegans.
It’s ironic that the Prime Minister returns from kissing the ring of hedge fund lords and then sheepishly dons a T-shirt from an anti-establishment punk rock band. At least he is finally wearing the hypocrisy on his chest.
We’re on a highway to hell because Anthony Albanese has not grown into the Prime Ministership.
He still acts as though selfies, band T-shirts and empty symbols are substitutes for thoughtful governance and hard work.
As a Senate, we stand at the Rubicon, Digital ID and Misinformation bills in hand. We must decide whether to cross into tyranny or take a principled stand in support of free speech, freedom of association, and honest debate.
It’s an own goal that Anthony Albanese chose a band from a better time – a happier time – when Australia was prosperous, when people had homes, cars, and breadwinner jobs.
Wearing a T-shirt will not bring those days back, Prime Minister.
Nor. Will. You.
And if the Prime Minister wants to re-connect with Australia’s youth as they slowly turn on his government – upset about their stolen Covid years, ruined education, and future in a sardine-city shuttered in with oppressive surveillance – we suggest wearing a T-shirt with the latest TikTok influencer’s face instead.
Good music with a sense of political irony is, alas, another thing we lost along the way.
