People, not just profits: Chalmers wants to change your mind on economics
In part two of an interview with Capital Brief, the Federal Treasurer makes the case for viewing the economy differently.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers is trying to change the way you think about economics. Reshaping the nation’s economic debate is one of the legacies he hopes will endure whenever his time in government ends.
“For too long, we've laboured and chased our tail under this ridiculous notion that we choose between our society or our economy. I want to change that,” he says.
To understand why he wants to change economic thinking, it's worth casting your mind back to Chalmers' maiden speech to Parliament in November 2013. He spoke about his childhood in suburban Logan, an outer southern suburb of Brisbane.
He said that after the mid-1990s Labor made a mistake in not defending the Hawke-Keating governments' success with marrying major economic reform with progressive social policy. And he detailed his hopes for the "right type" of economy, one underpinned by intergenerational and social mobility.
