Politics at its most visceral is visual, which is why governments and oppositions spend so much time crafting the perfect image.
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governments → spend → image
When it gets really fun is when the unexpected happens.
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unexpected → get → ?
Like a purposeful set-up that backfires, embarrassing the participants.
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that → backfire → participants
Awks, as the kids might say.
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kids → awk → ?
There have been many examples over the years, but there was something in the air this week that rekindled memories of a 2015 photograph of then-prime minister Tony Abbott and his treasurer, Joe Hockey.
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that → be → Abbott
Taken in the prime minister's office on the eve of that year's budget, the photograph captured the two men side-by-side.
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photograph → take → side
Abbott leans to his left and puts a pastoral hand on Hockey's bare forearm.
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Abbott → lean → forearm
Hockey looks miserable.
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Hockey → look → ?
Which it turned out he was.
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he → turn → ?
The photo was taken 12 months after what was regarded at the time as one of the least popular budgets in history: the notorious 2014 edition with all its broken-promise spending cuts.
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what → take → cuts
A year later, still in its first term but with an eye on the coming election in 2016, the Coalition released its second budget at a time of deep poll trouble.
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Coalition → come → trouble
Hemmed in by the Senate and a popular backlash against the cuts, a politically battered and bruised Hockey was forced to shelve his ambitions for big reform that began when he declared an end to the "age of entitlement".
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he → hem → entitlement
Instead, his second budget was a plodding affair full of cash handouts that spent almost every dollar saved.
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that → spend → dollar
It was panned by the economic commentariat as a do-little effort that left the country drifting sideways.
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that → pan → country
Having Abbott sit with Hockey was intended to demonstrate unity and resolve.
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Abbott → have → unity
Instead, it produced snickering.
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it → produce → snickering
Four months later, almost to the day, both men were out of their jobs, rolled by Malcolm Turnbull who cited the fact Abbott had lost 30 straight NewsPolls to Labor.
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Abbott → roll → Labor
Towards the end of Question Time on Wednesday — a day of bleak news on the economy, with rising inflation and interest rate worries — the prime minister got a question from the opposition about when he plans to replace Jim Chalmers with cabinet secretary Andrew Charlton.
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he → rise → Charlton
The question was a political shit stir, designed to highlight the bad blood between the prime minister and treasurer.
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question → design → minister
Albanese used his answer to pump up the treasurer, who has made no secret in recent weeks of his frustration at being seen as the locus of blame for everything wrong with the government.
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who → use → government
"This treasurer produced back-to-back surpluses," the prime minister began, before laying it on thick.
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minister → produce → it
"This treasurer returned 75 per cent of revenue upgrades to the bottom line.
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treasurer → return → line
He's one of only nine treasurers of finance ministers around the world to have a AAA credit rating from all of the agencies.
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He → have → agencies
As he sat listening, Chalmers had the air of a man who wasn't entirely over the moon about the praise.
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who → sit → praise
How helpful it was, given tensions in the air, is debatable.
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it → give → air
It certainly reminded those who saw it of the pressure Chalmers is under, which is looking more and more like an uncontrolled pile-on.
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which → remind → on
Going through some things
The risk when prime ministers have to defend their treasurers in a performative manner is that it sets tongues wagging.
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tongues → go → manner
Who is he trying to convince?
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he → try → Who
"If Jim could have flipped Albanese the bird in the middle of it, he would have," said one Labor observer.
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observer → flip → it
A cynical interpretation is that the prime minister was also reminding the public that it's the treasurer who owns the government's economic story.
Which — as Donald Trump once said of an ill-fated US ambassador to Ukraine — is "going to go through some things".
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Trump → remind → things
Next week will almost certainly be brutal for the government, given the likelihood of another Reserve Bank rate hike on Tuesday, the fifth this year.
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week → give → Tuesday
The prime minister will be in the Caribbean for a Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM), leaving Chalmers to face the music.
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minister → leave → music
Like a rogue wave bouncing off a seawall, a story then appeared on Friday in the Sydney Morning Herald citing "government sources", suggesting Chalmers is a victim rather than villain of the government's deteriorating economic story.
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Chalmers → bounce → story
The Herald quoted people saying that Chalmers' push for spending discipline was obstructed by the prime minister's razor gang in the lead-up to the May budget.
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push → quote → budget
And that his heroic fiscal rectitude was undermined by the prime minister's inner cabal of spendy left-faction ministers, led by Katie Gallagher, Mark Butler, Penny Wong and Tim Ayres.
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rectitude → undermine → Gallagher
This columnist has heard similar tales.
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columnist → hear → tales
Alarmingly for the government more broadly, it hints at a shift in the underlying ecosystem of the government.
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it → hint → government
It is far from irretrievable or terminal — and old hands speak of the current tensions as nothing compared to the Gillard-Rudd years.
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hands → speak → years
People are getting jittery, looking sideways.
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People → get → ?
The easy confidence of key figures in the government is dwindling.
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confidence → dwindle → government
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia