EDITORIAL: PM’s boast on tax backflip undermined Chalmers
It is important for any government that the prime minister and treasurer are on the same page.
There is a certain path that prime ministers and their treasurers can seem to follow.
At the beginning they work closely together as they strive to deliver the policies that won them office.
But politics these days is a relentless 24/7 grind, and voters can start to fall out of love with the team in charge.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.That’s when the relationship between the two most senior members of a government can change from constructive to destructive, particularly if the treasurer of the time has any leadership ambitions.
We may now be at that time in the relationship between Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers.
The Treasurer has been under intense pressure over rising interest rates, Government spending, debt, house prices and his latest Budget.
It was delivered way back in May and was immediately seen as the broken-promises Budget for the way it overturned numerous pledges not to change negative gearing and the capital gains tax.
It has hit one hurdle after another as many policies unravelled in a seemingly never-ending list of unintended consequences and backdowns, including on superannuation, taxes on estate planning, tech startups and widows inheriting an investment property.
The most recent came last week when Dr Chalmers was forced on Friday to announce a backdown over the contentious plan under which the Australian Taxation Office would no longer accept payments by credit card after December 1.
After days of pressure from the Opposition, business groups and even within Labor’s own ministerial ranks, Dr Chalmers announced the ATO’s ban on credit card payments would be delayed until the middle of next year.
That was bad enough for the Treasurer.
What he didn’t need was for his boss to then rub his nose in it.
On Tuesday night Mr Albanese boasted about intervening to extend the deadline for businesses to pay their tax bills via credit card after he had received a text message last Thursday from Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar.
“Andrew did text me last Thursday morning, and by Friday morning we had an announcement,” Mr Albanese told the ACCI.
“That was an example of a relationship that takes time to develop. That trust, where you can have a discussion and say ‘it is in hand, I agree with what you are saying and I will get it done’,” Mr Albanese said.
On Wednesday, Mr Albanese and Dr Chalmers played down the suggestion the Treasurer had been rolled, saying they were both involved in the backflip.
But the episode has provided more fodder for the view that Mr Albanese is happy to abandon his Treasurer if the going gets tough — even if it means publicly humiliating him.
Whatever one thinks about Dr Chalmers and his performance in the job, it is important for any government that those in the two roles are on the same page.
Right now the Albanese-Chalmers relationship is looking more and more like the relationship between prime minister Bob Hawke and his treasurer Paul Keating.
After a strong start, it went downhill and didn’t end well.
