Cartoonists’ ‘Best Of’ Leaves Politicians Wondering Who Got the Last Laugh

The front page of the latest ‘Best of Cartoons’ edition arrived at the council office on a Tuesday morning, sandwiched between a fresh batch of traffic‑light repair notices and a flyer for a community garden that had run out of volunteers.

The collection, curated by a handful of illustrators who apparently met at a coffee shop that still serves flat whites, showcases the day’s news as if the nation’s mood were a series of doodles made in the spare moments between council meetings and rain‑delayed cricket matches.

What makes the compilation noteworthy, beyond the fact that it includes a sketch of the Premier attempting to balance a budget on a surfboard, is the subtle way the artists managed to capture the pervasive feeling of waiting in line – whether for a government grant, a public transport seat, or the next political promise to be fulfilled.

One panel depicts a queue of voters stretching past the Sydney Harbour Bridge, each clutching a ballot like a ticket to the next commuter train, while a billboard above reads ‘Your voice will be heard… eventually.’ The caption, delivered in a font that looks like it was drawn with a ruler and a sigh, reads: ‘Patience is a virtue, especially when the government’s timetable is as reliable as a Melbourne tram on a rainy Tuesday.’

Another cartoon shows a council meeting room where the temperature is set to a comfortable 22 °C, yet the participants are sweating profusely over a proposal to rename a suburb after a local hero who never actually lived there. The artist’s note: ‘When the heat is on, the minutes get longer.’

The weather, ever the silent third party in Australian civic life, makes cameo appearances in half the drawings – a drizzle that never quite stops, a sudden heatwave that makes the council’s outdoor barbecue plans evaporate, and a gust of wind that blows the minutes off the agenda faster than a budget cut.

While the cartoons avoid naming any specific politicians, the silhouettes are unmistakable: a tall figure with a wide-brimmed hat trying to juggle a stack of paperwork, a shorter one with a megaphone that seems to amplify only the sound of a distant siren, and a third who appears to be holding a coffee cup labelled ‘Policy Brew – Strong Enough to Keep You Awake.’

The overall tone is one of resigned amusement, the kind you feel when you finally get to the front of a council queue only to discover the form you need has been replaced by a new version you’ve never seen before. It’s as if the artists are saying, ‘We’ve all been here before, and we’ll probably be here again.’

In the end, the ‘Best of Cartoons’ serves as a reminder that, despite the endless loops of bureaucracy, the public can still find a chuckle in the mundane, and perhaps, just perhaps, the next council meeting will be a little less about waiting and a little more about moving forward – or at the very least, about not forgetting the coffee.