Editorial: Jim Chalmers is either delusional or deceptive

Seven and a half hours.

That’s how far into the year we got before a Labor minister gave into his instinct to deceive and delude Australians. And in the spirit of generosity, we’ve calculated that using the time zone in Jim Chalmers’ home State.

Most West Australians were still sleeping off the excesses of the New Year’s Eve when Jim Chalmers tapped out his misleading message on social media site X.

Evidently the Treasurer had been enraged that morning by media commentary from former Liberal prime minister John Howard and his treasurer Peter Costello critical of the Albanese Government’s economic management and Treasury’s performance.

So Dr Chalmers countered their “predictable partisan rant” with one of his own, claiming that the Albanese Government had “found $92 billion in savings” and had reduced debt by $177b, saving $70b in interest costs across the decade.

The Treasurer is entitled to defend his record, just as Mr Howard and Mr Costello are entitled to point out his deficiencies, despite the pair of them spending Australians’ taxpayer money like drunken sailors themselves during their time in power.

Nothing in Dr Chalmers’ tirade is incorrect. All his figures are borne out by last month’s mid-year Budget update.

Here are some other important figures from that update.

A cumulative deficit of $143.9b across the next four years, up $22b from the $122.1b forecast back in May. Add in $90b “off-budget” spending for projects including the Snowy Hydro Scheme, the NBN and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility and that figure blows out further to $233b.

Then there’s the fact that Federal spending as a share of the national economy is projected to hit an astronomical 27.2 per cent next year, a level not seen since 1986, with the exception of the two pandemic years.

These are all Dr Chalmers’ own numbers, taken from his own Budget update.

He trumpets finding $92b in savings, but neglects to mention that actual government spending growth for this financial year is running at 5.7 per cent.

In no other sphere could one claim with a straight face to be making “savings” when actually spending more than ever before.

It’s audacious misinformation.

The only reason that Dr Chalmers has any kernels of good news he can spin to try to hide the truly dire state of the economy is that the resources sector, led by WA, has poured billions into government coffers. All he had to do was sit back and not get in the way as other people did the work for him.

He’s also taking credit for billion more in income tax receipts, courtesy of bracket creep.

And that’s while taxpayers suffer through our longest ever household recession which has now stretched through seven consecutive quarters.

And Dr Chalmers has the gall to tell Australians he’s done a stellar job managing the economy.

If you were hoping the new year would herald a new era of honesty in politics, you’re already out of luck.