The coronavirus pandemic has blown a hole in the nation’s accounts. But spare a thought for Australia’s major political parties, whose own balance sheets rely on selling tickets to networking shindigs and are therefore heavily exposed to the virus.

The restrictions on gatherings will particularly hurt the Liberal and National parties, for whom the federal budget has long been a marquee fundraising event. They ordinarily bill top dollar for events on the Tuesday night in Canberra right through to the Liberals’ traditional Friday breakfast in Melbourne (a replacement for the Melbourne event was booked to take place in Sydney on Friday, but was postponed by a month on Tuesday afternoon, the apology citing "an unavoidable change" in the prime minister's schedule given "the dynamic circumstances").