Treasurers rarely shoot from the hip.
They know that anything they say is parsed down to the syllable – not just by financial markets but also by their own MPs, their political opponents and the economic press.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher. The balancing act between budget responsibility and political imperative is increasingly difficult.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
So when Jim Chalmers used his opening comments at a press conference on the national accounts this week to signal a change in budget direction, it grabbed the attention of a lot more people than the handful of journalists listening to him in parliament’s Blue Room.
Ever since he and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher took the reins of the Albanese government’s economic and budget policy, Chalmers has been resolute about bringing inflation down.
In his first budget speech, the first by a Labor treasurer in almost a decade, Chalmers said the aim was to “limit growth in spending, especially while inflation is high”.
But on Wednesday afternoon, after figures showed the economy barely growing by 0.2 per cent through the final three months of 2023, Chalmers used his press conference to signal change in the government’s budget message.
“Addressing inflation is still our primary concern, but these numbers show that the balance of risks in our economy are shifting from inflation to growth,” he said.
“Those first two budgets were carefully calibrated to the economic conditions, and that will be the guiding principle behind the third budget that Katy and I hand down in May.”
Election vs emergency: Jim Chalmers faces collision between budget politics and economics
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08.03.2024
Treasurers rarely shoot from the hip.
They know that anything they say is parsed down to the syllable – not just by financial markets but also by their own MPs, their political opponents and the economic press.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher. The balancing act between budget responsibility and political imperative is increasingly difficult.Credit: Alex........
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