Election 2022: Jim Chalmers demands a leap of faith because ‘the other mob are crooks’

Opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers at the National Press Club on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Jim Chalmers slammed “a budget riddled with rorts and choc-full of wasteful spending” but his prescription for fiscal repair demands a leap of faith by voters, business and financial markets.

At the National Press Club on Tuesday, the opposition Treasury spokesman launched a spirited attack on the Coalition’s economic management but tiptoed around the void of Labor’s approach.

Here’s the Chalmers elevator pitch on responsible budgeting in an era of endless deficits and a ­trillion-dollar debt: “Grow the economy the right way; focus on quality and bang for buck; end the rorts and waste; and work with other countries to make sure multinationals pay their fair share of tax in Australia where they make their profits.”

In a brave move, given the deficit blood, porky sweat and factional tears of Labor’s most recent term in office, Chalmers channelled fellow Queenslander and self-styled “fiscal conservative” Kevin Rudd 1.0 about good housekeeping. “I say this to Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg: this reckless rorting and wasteful spending must stop,” he said.

It was impossible to tell how hard the straight-faced Labor crowd in federal parliament’s Great Hall were laughing on the inside.

Quizzed by several reporters about how he would close the structural gap in coming years between spending and taxing, estimated to settle at about $40bn or 2 per cent of gross domestic product, Chalmers fell back on a too-cute and vague commitment to “quality” rather than “quantity”.

You see, one side’s “investment” is the other side’s wasteful spending or, at best, workaday consumption. Essentially, this is an election gambit of “vote for us because it’s our turn” and “the other mob are crooks”.

There is some, if limited, merit in a “fresh legs” approach, given the recent governing experiences by both sides.

Every opposition can identify the low-hanging fruit of the other side’s accumulated junk.

It’s usually spending their side of politics can do away with in a pain-free way because they do not own it, nor do they need the votes attached to it.

While consultants are an easy target, that doesn’t mean there is no merit in trimming runaway spending on them.

Governments rely on guns for hire for short, sharp reviews and to fill alleged holes in expertise, yet given the quality of many consultants’ “outputs” during the pandemic, taxpayers have been taken for a ride.

Same goes for government information campaigns that smell and sound like political advertising; the supposed safeguards in place are a joke.

Long-term incumbents become lazy on spending and lose the ardour they carry in to office to slash the waste.

Perhaps Chalmers is thinking of unleashing a Peter Walsh-style razor gang ahead of his first budget, which will be brought forward to later this year if Labor wins power.

Taxing foreign titans gets a populist tick as well, because as the Prime Minister said a few years ago about the banks, “nobody likes you”.

All up, ending the dodgy deals, salami-sliced local porkage and corporate grifting won’t change the fiscal equation all that much. At best, it’s a day, maybe two, of the cost of running Canberra these days.

The trust part comes down to this: will Labor’s spending on ­social services, training, tax breaks and infrastructure actually expand the supply-side of the economy to generate more ­national income?

Chalmers argues Labor’s spending is not that big, plus it pays for itself, and then the budget fixes itself. Sounds like the Treasurer’s plan.

Is that the best Labor can offer after three terms on the bench?