Jim Chalmers’ rise to the top job not assured

Anthony Albanese and Industry Minister Ed Husic. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Ed Husic’s latest rogue intervention advocating a lower company tax rate and investment allowance was a clear undermining of Jim Chalmers’ authority and is linked to long-running resentment by some cabinet ministers over the Treasurer’s rapid rise.

Chalmers has been around politics long enough to know his path to the top job, whenever Anthony Albanese departs or loses an election, will be challenged by ambitious colleagues who believe they are more experienced and have stronger factional support.

Husic, who has never been close to Chalmers, gave the game away on Tuesday after waxing lyrical about major corporate tax reform and investment allowances at an AFR business summit. “But … I’ll be very careful about how much I say if you don’t mind, because I’ve got a cabinet colleague in the form of the Treasurer, who manages the tax revenues,” Husic said.

This is the same politician, who along with Chalmers, smashed Malcolm Turnbull’s 2018 plan to ensure Australian companies remain globally competitive.

Chalmers has claimed fourth position in the government’s pecking order behind Albanese, Richard Marles and Penny Wong. That puts him ahead of veteran Labor operatives, including Tony Burke, Chris Bowen, Tanya Plibersek, Bill Shorten and Husic.

Through Expenditure Review Committee of Cabinet meetings ahead of the May 14 budget, Chalmers held the line – as best as he could – to knock back funding proposals and policies put forward by cabinet colleagues. Saying “No” to ambitious politicians typically breeds resentment.

Never a factional warrior like his mentor Wayne Swan and representing a state with only five Labor MPs, Chalmers would need the blessing of his southern Right-faction colleagues to claim party leadership in the future.

The 46-year-old secured a major internal victory over summer after Albanese – who was under massive political pressure late last year – approved his plan to overhaul stage 3 tax cuts.

The decision, which became the budget’s cost-of-living centrepiece, has been credited by senior strategists as the key contributor to Labor’s Dunkley by-election victory.

While Shorten and Plibersek hold torches for the leadership, the NSW Labor Right remains a key player. Within the faction, a different beast to the once traditional powerhouse, includes a tight-knit grouping of Husic, Bowen and Clare.

Husic, 54, has emerged as a wildcard, not afraid to speak his mind and willing to differentiate from talking points. His outspoken positions on Gaza and Labor’s gas market intervention are calculated, deliberate and designed to lead government outcomes.