The fuel crisis is about to whack Australia. Jim Chalmers' budget must tread a fine line between panic and preparation | Peter Lewis

While 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 speaks to this moment, as we confront the inevitable consequences of the oil supply crisis.

Read the full article and join the community discussion on Inimzu.