Environment Minister Murray Watt has admitted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s ordinarily united team has been leaking and undermining Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and appealed for it to stop.
The relationship between Albanese and Chalmers has come into the spotlight in recent weeks . A series of newspaper stories have exposed tensions within the caucus over Labor’s economic management as interest rates are hiked repeatedly to counter rising inflation.
Watt, in Canberra as ministers meet to find budget cuts, was asked by reporters if he would like to “see an end to the undermining and leaking” targeting Chalmers.
“As a member of a government I take seriously the responsibility to work together to support government policies and also to get out there and support each other in what are at times very difficult times.
“I think that Jim Chalmers is doing an excellent job as a treasurer in what are very difficult economic times.”
The government’s fiscal management has come to the fore amid criticism from the opposition and most economists, who argue public spending has made it more difficult for the Reserve Bank to combat war-induced inflation. Labor has pointed to higher fuel prices sparked by America’s war with Iran, which the RBA acknowledges has made the inflation problem much worse.
Asked if he believed it was clear that colleagues were undermining Chalmers, Watt added: “Well, I think it’s pretty obvious that there’s all sorts of people making all sorts of comments.
“Many of the features that are impacting on our economy are of course well outside any treasurer’s control, and I very much support Jim Chalmers in his efforts.”
This masthead reported last month that MPs believed the critique of Chalmers was driven by a combination of genuine concern about Labor’s near record spending level, ideological opponents in the media, normal midterm grumbles and factional gripes from Chalmers’ internal critics.
Chalmers’ allies have previously suggested that Albanese’s senior supporters, of which Watt is one, have done little to counter the criticism directed at him.
Albanese and Chalmers are not factionally aligned.
Speaking on the Inside Politics podcast two weeks ago, Chalmers issued somewhat of a mea culpa after weeks of bruising media coverage. He acknowledged his budget measures were causing pain, making clear he liked and respected colleagues, and adding he “should make more time for my colleagues” though this was difficult because he spent “a lot of time locked in windowless rooms” running Labor’s fiscal policies.
He also appeared to link Labor’s falling poll numbers to Albanese, igniting internal debate that was exacerbated by a report in this masthead that cabinet colleagues had blocked his efforts to rein in spending .
Albanese delayed by a day his trip to the COP climate summit in Turkey to create space to host multiple budget meetings on Monday. Labor has promised to find savings in the December budget update, but it is pressured to create net savings, which outweigh new spending. Labor could alternatively raise taxes to dampen inflation, though voters often punish governments for tax hikes.
The prime minister claimed on Monday that he would be able to tell voters at the next election that “unlike most of the advanced economies, we haven’t had a single quarter of negative growth.” While Australia has not suffered decline in nominal growth due to high levels of migration, growth per person has declined over several quarters since Labor came to power in 2022.
“We’ll continue to focus on putting downward pressure on cost-of-living, making sure that we continue to strengthen the economy,” he told reporters.
The Coalition announced a taskforce to cut red tape by 25 per cent should Opposition Leader Angus Taylor win the next election. Taylor announced the party’s plan to index tax brackets to inflation would cost $220 billion over eight years, creating the need to find far more savings than the opposition has already announced.
“The waste that this government is committing to … is dragging resources out of the private sector [and] leading to an economy that is not delivering for hardworking Australians, and we are getting that because we have this prime minister who’s out of touch, out of his depth and losing his cool,” Taylor told reporters in Sydney.
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