The fuel crisis is about to whack Australia. Jim Chalmers’ budget must tread a fine line between panic and preparation (opens in new tab)

As the economy turns south, the treasurer will be faced with choices in how he responds. This calm before the shitstorm is an opportunity for reforms to energy, the NDIS and housingWhile the treasurer puts the finishing touches to a budget that was to be the lodestar of Labor’s second term, he could be forgiven for thinking he has been washed up on the set of Nevil Shute’s On the Beach.The Hollywood adaptation of Shute’s 1957 novel about Melburnians waiting for the arrival of nuclear fallout ...