Why couldn’t the PM just enjoy Kirribilli’s harbour views for another six months and then go property shopping?

‘There is nothing like a real estate story – with pictures to boot – to get cut-through. It’s just not the kind of cut-through the government needed.’ Photograph: Belle Property Killcare

It’s hard to think of a more politically tone-deaf decision than Anthony Albanese’s purchase of a $4.3m clifftop mansion six months before a cost-of-living election.

The government has been drifting in the polls and struggling to get cut-through on its economic measures, lacking a strong narrative about its reason for being in office.