Welcome back to your weekly federal politics update, where Courtney Gould gets you up to speed on the happenings from Parliament House.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then John Howard and Pauline Hanson must be feeling pretty good after reading the Coalition's new migration policy.

Angus Taylor wasn't shy about the comparison, at least to Howard, as he declared Australia's migration system should "discriminate based on values" and echoed the former prime minister's speech to a Liberal campaign launch back in 2001.

Australia should "decide who deserves protection and the circumstances in which that protection is granted", he said. Social media screening of visa applicants should be beefed up. He also didn't rule out an ICE-style force to crackdown on people overstaying their visas.

It's far from the first time Howard's rhetoric has been invoked. Scott Morrison lifted the line on the campaign trail back in 2019. Both times Howard cracked a smile at the Liberal leader from the crowd.

The Coalition's plan, much like One Nation's, is heavy on the rhetoric and light on the details. Taylor and his shadow ministers haven't been able to provide much clarity when asked repeatedly for it, as he took the plan to housing estates across Queensland in a bid to link migration to housing.

But as Maani Truu wrote, the details aren't the point. Rather it's to provide the strongest signal yet to those Coalition voters who may have been flirting with voting One Nation based on its anti-immigration stance.

Back in 2001, Hanson was narrowly defeated by the Nationals for the final Senate spot in Queensland. She smiled this week when asked about Taylor's speech. And then she immediately took the credit. 

"If they want to pick up my policies: good luck to you mate," she told Nine News.

But she thinks overall Taylor is heading further down her path than Howard did 25 years ago. 

"I think they are very concerned about the votes they are losing to One Nation … They're not kittens anymore. They're cats. And we're in this game and we have to do what is right for the country," she told Sky News.

Of course, this is all playing out in the context of the Farrer by-election on May 9. The ballot was drawn this week and the Liberals got the converted number one spot. And if the polls are to be believed, a few donkey votes won't be enough to save the seat Sussan Ley won back in *checks notes* 2001.

That being said One Nation has been putting the focus in the rural seat on water policy, not immigration. So has high profile independent Michelle Milthorpe. Both sides want a royal commission on the Murray Darling Basin Plan. The Coalition hasn't gone that far, they want an inquiry instead.

Either way, while Taylor was focused on migration this week, the government's focus has been squarely on fuel.

Anthony Albanese was on the second leg of his charm offensive in Asia. He put on a series of hard-hats as he toured refineries and fertiliser plants and signed agreements with Brunei and Malaysia as he sought to secure Australia's supplies.

The timing of the big fire at one of Australia's two operational oil refineries was unfortunate for the government given the ongoing crisis and domestic fuel shortages thanks to the Iran war.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen warned that the blaze could impact domestic petrol production for "some time". As Gina Rushton wrote, energy analyst Kevin Morrison said it could cause a short-term price shock in Victoria.

Albanese wasn't the only minister abroad this week. Treasurer Jim Chalmers also made a quick dash to Washington for talks with his fellow world finance ministers. His departure came on the same day as the International Monetary Fund issued a pretty grim warning on the state of the economy in the case of a prolonged Iran war.

A global recession, inflation as high as 6 per cent and elevated fuel prices until next year were forecast as part of the IMF's worst-case scenario.

Chalmers conceded the budget he's going to hand down in four weeks time won't be "identical" to the one he planned back in February. But he's sticking by his insistence it will be ambitious.

Nestled in the second year of Labor's second term this was the budget to strike, if the government were so inclined. The door seems to be open to changes to the capital gains tax discount. It's at least ajar to a windfall tax on gas exports (even if the resources minister herself doesn't seem too crash hot on the idea).

The government also sidestepped questions about increasing fuel reserves — when asked by reporters on Wednesday, Bowen responded: "It's not budget day, mate".

One thing we do know is the government is touting an increase to defence spending over the next decade. Defence Minister Richard Marles was front and centre at the National Press Club on Thursday to outline Australia's new defence strategy.

In: drones and ways to shoot down drones. Out: C-27J Spartan (described by defence boffins as mini-Hercules transport aircraft) and as yet undisclosed other stuff.

The top line is that Australia needs a greater emphasis on self-reliance but as a smaller nation we can't just ditch the United States. Marles disagreed with the idea that the global rules-based order, that the US helped usher in, is now extinct.

"For all the failings of the global rules based order, and there have been many, we have been far better off with it than without it," he argued, adding the world will "deeply regret its disintegration" when it's gone.

It's as much of a message to the US as it is to Canada, whose PM Mark Carney was in Australia last month spruiking his message that middle powers don't need the big dogs anymore.

Finally, Greens senator David Shoebridge is no stranger to interjections — but he's probably more used to causing them in the chamber than having his own press conference interrupted.

Shoebridge was deployed to deliver the Greens opposition to the Coalition's immigration plan and was mid-delivery when a robot friend wandered into the fray.

"Which brings us neatly to drones," he quipped.