Treasurer finally concedes what has been obvious in every pub for months

Jim Chalmers has been forced to admit that the Albanese government knew about the changes to the stage three tax cuts well before January 25. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Jim Chalmers has finally cut the dancing around and been forced to admit that the Albanese government knew about the changes to the stage three tax cuts – and that he as Treasurer was working on changes – well before the Cabinet’s official change of policy on January 25.

Chalmers’ admission – at his first full press conference since the evidence to the senate of Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy – finally concedes what has been obvious in every pub for months and that is that the denials of Anthony Albanese and the Treasurer over the summer months that the position on tax cuts hadn’t changed was sham and a fiction.

Chalmers, when asked if he was being “tricky”, stood by the too-cute-by half explanation that the government’s “position” didn’t change until the Cabinet made a formal decision on January 25.

Pull the other one.

There’s no doubt there has been a popular welcome to the change in the tax cuts and the redistribution of bracket creep dividends from higher income earners to lower income earners but the politics of the process stinks and it is a stink that could dangerously linger.

Chalmers’ explanation is too technical, hairsplitting, pedantic and misleading to supply any real rebuttal to the claim that voters were not only misled during the election but cynically fed a line that the government hadn’t “changed its position” or wasn’t making changes.

After the revealing evidence of the Treasury Secretary, which was perfectly legitimate, careful and within his remit and duty, Chalmers had to finally bite the bullet.

All the pernickety prevarication and playing with words has gone – Chalmers knew what Treasury was doing on the tax cut changes despite the election promise, the government knew changes were being worked on and the Treasurer was preparing those changes for Cabinet “colleagues” privately while publicly continuing the charade of not changing position.

The government’s policy on tax cuts has given it a boost but it’s process has the potential for a slow burn public backlash.