The movie Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb contains a famous scene in which a US air force major rides down jubilantly to earth atop a falling nuclear bomb.
So yes, it may seem like a bit of a leap here, but can we ask is Anthony Albanese going to ride the bomb he is sitting on all the way down?
Or will he realise the danger and do something to avoid a looming political explosion?
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And perhaps more relevantly, will his Ministers act or remain in their current stupor?
Because unless Federal Labor wakes up they are likely to find themselves doing what US Maj. “King“ Kong — played unforgettably by Slim Pickens — did in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 satire.
Here’s why. The average household is being crushed.
Supermarket prices, fuel prices and interest rates are all up and headed higher — fuelled in no small measure by the Government’s inflation-boosting spending.
But the housing market is tanking and the key economic remedy of better productivity is being weighed down by the Government’s heavy-handed, innovation-stifling and anti-business regulatory and tax policies.
Also down is support for the Albanese Government and Mr Albanese’s personal approval rating.
The latest Newspoll had Labor’s primary vote at just 27 per cent, down from 37 per cent a year ago. One Nation sat at 30 per cent.
Mr Albanese’s net approval rating had fallen to its lowest point since Labor’s 2022 election.
So far his Ministers have resolutely gone out to back the Prime Minister, defended the indefensible and demeaned themselves in the process — and as such are complicit in the Labor slide.
Or they have looked the other way.
Labor’s plan seems to be attack One Nation and hope it will implode.
There has been no sign that will work.
All the traditional attack avenues merely bolster One Nation’s outsider status.
Meanwhile the pressure continues to mount on Labor.
This went up another notch on Tuesday when the Reserve Bank of Australia’s chief economist Sarah Hunter said the bank was “very concerned” about inflation and the risks to inflation were “skewed to the upside”.
“If those risks do manifest . . . they will definitely be considering whether or not they will have to hike the cash rate,” Dr Hunter said.
Hours later RBA Governor Michele Bullock called out the Government, saying its removal of property tax concessions was contributing to the housing market downturn.
And she reminded the Government “there are things governments can do.”
She offered up remove red tape, make it easier for business to invest, reward business innovation, encourage competition and as such “help to possibly spur productivity.”
The times call for a major Albanese Government reset.
But to do that would require some humility from Mr Albanese.
That’s in short supply.
There is no doubt who voters will look to blame for their ongoing plight.
And it surely won’t be just the Reserve Bank they look at.
Unless he returns from his visit to the United States with a new approach, Mr Albanese is fading fast.
