Jim Chalmers’ red-inked budget and Peter Dutton’s Australia-first-tinged reply speech suggest this will be a demoralising election campaign for people interested in serious economic policy to revive living standards.
Labor and the Coalition will speak ad nauseam for the next five weeks about the “cost of living”. For political operatives, there is no other game in town.
John KehoeEconomics editorJohn Kehoe is economics editor at Parliament House, Canberra. He writes on economics, politics and business. John was Washington correspondent covering Donald Trump’s first election. He joined the Financial Review in 2008 from Treasury. Connect with John on Twitter. Email John at jkehoe@afr.com
