Double act
An ambitious treasurer and a cautious PM can deliver political magic, or a complete mess. The jury is still out on Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers.
It’s a tale as old as Federation: the restless treasurer and the risk-averse prime minister.
Often the friction is productive. Bob Hawke and Paul Keating bickered as much as anyone, but together they delivered the Prices and Incomes Accord, the floating of the Australian dollar and sweeping trade liberalisation. Likewise, John Howard and Peter Costello gave us the GST, a massive deregulation agenda and the privatisation of Telstra.
But the model doesn’t always work. Malcolm Turnbull swatted away Scott Morrison’s attempts to raise the GST, and Kevin Rudd never shook the mutual suspicion with Wayne Swan.
Which brings us to Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers, who are staring down next week’s much-hyped Economic Reform Roundtable. They are products of central casting: ambitious treasurer, cautious PM. So far, it’s been a holding pattern — no major reform triumphs, no spectacular bust-ups.
