‘Whinging’ Waleed Aly slammed by Project viewers over tax cuts: ‘Embarrasing lack of integrity’

Aly has faced a grilling from viewers, with many labelling the star as “out of touch” over his criticism of the latest tax cuts.

The Project star Waleed Aly appeared to turn his back on the average Aussie and left viewers fuming when he grilled treasurer Jim Chalmers on Thursday’s episode of the show, accusing the government of playing “a game” over tax cuts.

The Albanese Government’s decision to tweak Stage 3 tax cuts so low income Aussies, those earning $150,000 or less, get more than initially planned has proved controversial with those on higher incomes this week.

Waleed Aly is believed to earn a whopping 900,000 from The Project alone, making him one of the top earners impacted by the reduction in promised tax cuts to high earners. Picture from X

Many were furious that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is backing out on an election promise by altering the initial plans that would have given those with higher incomes more in their pay packet.

Treasurer Chalmers appeared on The Project to defend the cuts, where he faced a major grilling from an unlikely panellist over the government’s move to ease the cost of living crisis on the average Aussie.

“Is political integrity and honesty just a game?” questioned Aly, who according to the latest reports is believed to earn around $900,000 a year from his role on The Project.

“Is that just the political game? Or is it actually something really important?”

“It is important and, in my view, integrity and trust is all about saying to the Australian people, when you’ve changed your view, why you’ve changed your view,” responded Chalmers, who attributed the change to a shift in economic circumstances.

“There will always be criticism from the usual quarters. But our job is to try and make the right decisions for the right reasons.”

However, the treasurer’s answer failed to satisfy Aly, who pushed harder to determine the change in economic circumstances Chalmers was alluding to.

“Here’s the bit I’m not clear on,” said Aly. “What is different about the economic circumstances now when compared with all the way through last year when you were promising over and over and over again that you wouldn’t be making these changes?”

“I think all of your viewers would understand this, Waleed, replied Chalmers.

“These cost-of-living pressures are sustained and they’re persistent. And any responsible government looks for better ways to provide cost-of-living relief to more people, and that’s what we’ve been able to do by changing these Stage 3 tax cuts. These were legislated five years ago by Scott Morrison. Obviously, a lot’s happened between now and then.”

Aly grilled the treasurer during his appearance on the show. Picture from Twitter.

According to a report in December, Australian households are under “extreme” cost-of-living pressure with two in five people struggling to pay their bills and 761,000 families with children lacking adequate funds for food.

“Now you’re tinkering with this to deal with a cost-of-living crisis which is, in the grand scheme of things, serious for a lot of people right now but, in the grand seem scheme of things, a short-term thing,” continued Aly.

“Once that’s over, we’re going to be stuck with this tinkering that you didn’t think was meant to be part of the plan initially and is specifically designed to deal with a short-term problem. Isn’t that an issue? Aren’t you sacrificing the long-term for the short-term?”

Chalmers then hit back at Aly’s suggestion.

“This is a better set of tax arrangements for the here and now, and a better set of tax arrangements for the future as well,” he insisted. “We don’t just believe in Middle Australia or low-income earners or women in the workforce or younger workers from month to month. We want to reward effort and aspiration right up and down the income scale.”

Viewers rushed to share their shock at Aly’s grilling of the treasurer, with one claiming that the show had “completely” missed the mark.

A viewer tweeted: “The Project has completely misread the room.”

A second said: “So the change mean the lowest 95% of income earners get more under Labor and only the richest 5% get less (but still get more) and Waleed thinks that’s a broken promise??? A broken promise that’s better for 95% of people is a GOOD THING!”

A third viewer bemoaned: “I like Waleed, but I feel like if he weren’t making 6 figures, his line of questioning would have been different. #TheProjectTV”.

Originally published as ‘Whinging’ Waleed Aly slammed by Project viewers over tax cuts: ‘Embarrasing lack of integrity’