LIB Leader Jeremy Hanson led a boarding party on to the good ship ACT with a Budget address-in-reply that had the Barr-Rattenbury crew fighting to hold the bridge. And ironically, he was firing the ammunition the captain had collected in his years at the helm.

Andrew Barr’s well-managed treasury – together with a ladle of luck – had provided the backing for Shane Rattenbury’s $939 million Gungahlin tram.

But since Hanson opposed the light-rail adventure he could use that treasure chest for big education spending without endangering his managerial credentials.

Barr complained that Hanson had opposed all his increased taxes in the first place. However, it’s never easy for a politician to claim the moral high ground, especially when he offers a 4.5 per cent “rates pause” in an election year.

EVEN Barr’s $30 levy on all households to fund the $21 million family violence package had its knockers. No one minds making the contribution – but is the answer more spending on courts and safe houses? Perhaps it’s time to engage the best brains in the field to develop a response that goes to the heart of the matter.

WHAT better example of that dilemma than the American presidential election between the unchained aggression of “Daffy Donald” Trump and the first female Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton who wants “to build bridges, not walls”. It’s the battle of the sexes writ large.

HOWEVER, even bridges can be opened prematurely. The call last week by Chris Bourke, Minister for Veterans and Seniors, for an annual Aboriginal Reconciliation Day “celebration” is a nice example. Alas, true reconciliation is yet to occur and a pretend celebration would not be “a good way to keep it in the public consciousness”. It would be a travesty.

THAT other election hardly caused a ripple. There was a 10 per cent swing against PM Malcolm Turnbull in his own Sydney seat. And his “7.30” interview was a non-event. Both contestants were forced to chase the real story of the week – the weather – to get their faces on TV.

However, at week’s end Bill Shorten surfaced to slash $6.1 billion over 10 years from Labor’s promises and tell women he’d changed his mind about GST-free tampons because “we can’t afford it”. Golly, the things a chap will sacrifice to keep that AAA credit rating.

DEPUTY PM, battling Barnaby Joyce, hit trouble when he decided to move the Veterinary Medicines Authority from Canberra to his own electorate.

Despite threats that “they better get used to the idea”, CEO Kareena Arthy reckoned it would be hard to rebuild the authority in Armidale without the 170 scientists and staff who were refusing to make the move.

“We’re not asking people to move to Kathmandu or Timbuktu,” cried Barnaby. Luckily, his electorate doesn’t extend quite that far.

SPEAKING of unwanted migration, the Brits vote on June 23 to decide whether to pull out of the EU and we should all hope the “Brexit” side wins. If the “Remain” case gets up, we’re told the English “traditionalists” who can’t abide those awful foreign migrants might set sail for that former colony where “we will decide who comes to Australia and the manner in which they come”. Quelle horreur.

robert@robertmacklin.com