Chalmers profile cuts deep but Albanese is secure
A glossy magazine article on Jim Chalmers opened him up to criticism that he was making a pitch for the Labor leadership — but the treasurer knows it's way too early for that.
In the days since Good Weekend published a profile of Treasurer Jim Chalmers, a lot has been made of it behind the scenes in Canberra.
Chalmers opened up to veteran journalist Deborah Snow about a series of personal struggles in the piece published on Saturday. These included his conversion to being a teetotaller after a past of heavy drinking, his recovery from skin cancer, and the fact that he struggles to switch off from work.
At a time when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing criticism over a range of issues — including his response to the High Court’s decision on indefinite detention and the failure to say whether he raised an aggressive action by a Chinese warship with President Xi Jinping — it has been viewed through the lens of leadership ambitions.
Bill Shorten’s former chief-of-staff Cameron Milner returned to the pages of The Australian, after an almost two-month absence, saying the magazine article “looked for all the world like an application for the top job”.
