Ask any Australian who sweltered these past few days. Extreme heat messes with your mood.

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The flood of cortisol, the stress hormone, muddies thinking, amplifies irritation and fuels irrational anger. The smallest of things - that persistent fly seeking moisture from the corner of your eye or the "Peel here" packaging on the tray of salami that refuses to budge - can quickly boil up into full-blown rage.

As our bodies battle to stay cool, our brains struggle to function as they should. Heart rates quicken, tempers flare, emotions erupt and there's more likelihood of violent crime.

Something similar happens when the political temperature becomes extreme - as it has over the past few weeks. Frayed judgment, shrill voices and questionable decisions made in the heat of the moment have all come in the wake of Bondi.

The announcement of the federal royal commission should have been the cool change that lowered the political temperature. But an email from opposition leader Sussan Ley which turned up unbidden in inboxes the day after made clear her intention to keep things on the boil.

"The pleas of the families of victims, the Jewish community and the wider have finally been heeded," she wrote, "but as always, Anthony Albanese has only acted when he judged it was in his political interest."

Ley is not wrong in her assessment of Albanese's clumsy handling of the royal commission issue. It's not the first time his obstinance has clouded his judgment and raised serious questions over his leadership style. If it weren't for Bondi, we'd probably still be talking about the parliamentary travel expenses scandal Albo at first tried to shrug off until the pressure to tighten the rules became too great to ignore.

But by keeping Bondi simmering, Ley risks overshadowing other incredibly important, potentially existential issues Australia must confront urgently.

Quick to cheerlead Donald Trump's abduction of Venezuela's president, she's been mute about the implications for Australia of this lurch into spheres-of-influence geopolitics by our closest........

© Canberra Times