Right now you’re probably thinking Anthony Albanese’s national address could’ve been an email. 

We all tuned in to a man speaking like he was addressing a room full of kindergarten children about how to save fuel. 

But the last paragraph scared the absolute shit out of me. 

“The months ahead may not be easy. I want to be upfront about that… I can promise we will do everything we can to protect Australia from the worst of it.” 

Then came UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer echoing almost identical rhetoric — except with actual planning and articulation behind it. 

So why did I suddenly start internally panicking? 

Here’s why. 

After Trump’s Truth Social posts over recent weeks, we already had signals he was preparing one last round of strikes against Iranian economic infrastructure before pulling back. Hours later, his speech basically confirmed it. 

Australia is now talking about sourcing oil via Singapore. That’s fine as a gesture between allies, but it is not a long-term solution. Singapore has to prioritise Singapore. Friendly doesn’t mean infinite supply. 

Meanwhile, Australians are calling for a gas tax to ease cost pressures. Sounds great emotionally — but reality is messier. 

We have long-term gas contracts with Japan. Japan is also heavily invested in Australia financially, holding roughly $250 billion AUD in Australian bonds — about 7% of Japan’s global fixed-income portfolio. 

Oil inflation pushes bond yields higher. Higher yields mean Australian government debt becomes more expensive to service. 

So slugging one of our closest allies — a country actively strengthening its defence posture and already funding chunks of our debt — probably isn’t the smartest immediate move. 

Now here’s the part people forget: 

Australia has a metric shit tonne of uranium — about 1.96 million tonnes, the largest known reserves on Earth. 

Trump’s speech made something very clear: countries without oil can buy oil from the United States and Uranium is not off the table considering it would take a very long time to get from Iran, (hint, hint, Albo) 

The “Art of the Deal” president basically opened the door to a potential resource swap logic — uranium leverage for energy security. 

Now stay with me, because this is where it gets uncomfortable. 

While Iran absorbs global attention, South Korea and Japan are committing defence resources to support the US. 

At the same time, there’s a not-so-secret Chinese naval presence operating under fishing vessel cover, waiting for an opportunity around Taiwan. 

CIA Director William Burns previously stated: 

“We know as a matter of intelligence that Xi Jinping has instructed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready by 2027 to conduct a successful invasion.” 

He clarified: 

“That does not mean that he’s decided to conduct an invasion in 2027 or any other year.” 

But readiness plus a bloody good distraction equals risk. 

Chinese-linked companies have been sanctioned for supplying drone components into Iran’s UAV supply chains — prolonging conflict and stretching Western attention thinner. 

Which brings us back to Australia. 

The Middle East is dealing with the Strait of Hormuz. 
The Houthis are threatening the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. 

And if a Taiwan conflict were triggered at the same time? 

Australia faces a triple exposure: 

• fuel supply stress 
• shipping route disruption 
• and a logistics chokehold on an import-dependent economy 

Add in a left faction governance and the appearance of political hesitation that could extend to the purchase of US oil, and suddenly we’re not just talking about higher petrol prices for Australian’s— we’re talking about supply chain paralysis. 

That leaves the private sector — the actual engine of the country — exposed. 

And without a healthy private sector, you don’t have a healthy government. 

This is why I’m shitting myself. 

 
(p.s. I wrote this myself in one hour immediately after watching the Trump speech and putting my toddler down for his daytime nap, peppa pig playing in the background, AI used only for grammar/spelling)