American lawyer and politician Gideon J Tucker once observed that ‘no man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session’. Given the ceaseless rapacity of Australian governments, one could say that truer words have rarely been spoken.

We therefore should be grateful the Prime Minister has decided to delay parliament by a week, giving the people a reprieve from nasty proposals to upend Australia’s rental market for goods needed by everyday Australians.