AARON PATRICK: Anthony Albanese, who is not stupid, discovers the economy

Anthony Albanese, borrowing a phrase from American political strategist James Carville, declared today: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

In response to the rise of One Nation, the Prime Minister expressed what many political scientists consider a truism: jobs, income and wealth drive voting.

Australian voters might then wonder why it took five budgets for the Albanese Labor Government to attempt serious economic reform, which is being executed by making investors pay more tax.

Before this year’s Budget, none of Mr Albanese’s signature policies were designed to expand the economy, including the Indigenous Voice, wage subsidies and grants for favoured workers and industries, increases in welfare spending and a rugby league team for Papua New Guinea.

The historic expansion in the size of government is being paid for by regular Australians. An accompanying inflation breakout is making almost everything more expensive, from toothpaste to flights. A single pizza delivery can now cost $36.

Higher prices this year triggered three interest rate increases, and potentially more, which may cost the average home borrower about $3500 extra a year. That’s a lot of pizzas.

Which may help explain why, with 47 per cent of voters dissatisfied with his performance, Mr Albanese today reflected on the financial pain felt by the nation.

“Many people feel that the system isn’t working for them, that they’re working for the economy,” he said.

Which sounds empathetic, but misses the point. Many Australians resentful of the Prime Minister feel they are working not for the economy, but his Government.

After decades of well-intended focus on the poor, Australia’s income tax system has become punitive for the middle class. The 47 per cent top tax rate is in the higher zone of developed economies and kicks in at a lower income than elsewhere.

Heavy taxation combined with expensive housing and high immigration is why One Nation’s support is at 31 per cent, compared with 30 per cent for the Labor Party and 18 per cent for the Coalition, according to a Newspoll published today.

Even with $740 billion to spend this year, Mr Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers can’t balance the Budget — and don’t expect to until the next decade. In the meantime, they happily rack up debt for future generations to repay.

To give the Government credit, it has accepted that property in Sydney, Perth or Brisbane should not be as expensive as Paris or Tokyo.

The cost of housing is one of the great, fixable strains on Australian society. It is not the only problem, though, and lowering house prices is not going to turn around Mr Albanese’s poll numbers or make One Nation less popular.

Today, as his Budget continued to be assailed for punishing the successful, the hard-working and the entrepreneurial, Mr Albanese tried to direct attention to policies designed to help young people get their first home.

“If you accept that the system’s broken, you’ve got a responsibility to do something about it,” he told reporters.

Which is true. But it might not mollify the millions of workers who feel the “system” — otherwise known as government — is not working for them but interest groups favoured by Mr Albanese and his ministers.

If the economic problems are so obvious to the Prime Minister, who is definitely not stupid, then why did he wait so long to do something about them?