If you thought politics was all backroom deals and hushed corridors, ACT independent senator David Pocock is here to remind you that sometimes you just... buy some billboards and point them at the treasurer.
According to The Guardian Australia, Pocock is applying public pressure on Treasurer Jim Chalmers ahead of next month's federal budget, calling for a 25% tax on gas exports. The money, he argues, should go toward welfare increases and housing - you know, the stuff Australians keep saying they desperately need.
What is actually being proposed here?
The push is part of a broader chorus from charities and social service groups, who are urging the Albanese government to do two things before the budget lands: wind back negative gearing concessions for property investors, and slap a serious levy on gas export profits. The argument is that both measures together could fund meaningful welfare increases and help build more housing stock.
The Albanese government is reportedly under pressure on the negative gearing front in particular - a perennial political hot potato that successive governments have treated like a live grenade with a note attached saying "not my problem."
Why the billboard stunt?
Pocock's decision to take his campaign literally into the streets is a calculated move to make the gas tax conversation impossible to ignore. With the federal budget approaching, the window for influencing fiscal policy is narrow, and independent senators without major party machinery behind them have to get creative. Billboards aimed at the treasurer's attention is, objectively, a power move.
The broader mood
The Guardian's live coverage also flags a survey pointing to widespread national gloom among Australians - which, given the cost-of-living crunch, housing affordability crisis, and general vibe of economic uncertainty, is perhaps the least surprising finding since scientists confirmed that water is wet.
Whether Chalmers blinks before budget night remains to be seen. But with billboards in his peripheral vision and charities publicly backing the push, the treasurer is going to have a hard time pretending nobody asked.
