Who on earth is Jim Chalmers?

Treasurer, doctor, dad - a deep dive into the bloke in charge of the nation's Apple Wallet.

Treasurer, doctor, dad - a deep dive into the bloke in charge of the nation's Apple Wallet.

Jim Chalmers is not the new kid on the block.

The man who was only sworn in as Treasurer in May is Mark Wahlberg entering his Entourage era. 

Tuesday’s Budget will be the first authored by the 44-year-old dad of three young kids, but it’ll be his 16th “lock up”. 

Since assuming the second most important job in government behind the Prime Minister, Chalmers has been through a spin cycle of briefings all while trying to clean up the impacts of Covid, rolling natural disasters and emergencies (now in four states), soaring cost of living, interest rates starting to hike earlier than expected and making good on the Labor Party’s election promises - like an overhaul of the childcare system while still delivering stage three tax cuts in a few years time. 

Not too mention a global economy that is as unpredictable as a Real Housewives episode. The UK can’t decide on a PM, the US is heading into critical Midterm elections with an economy staring down a recession and Russia continues its push into Ukraine threatening Europe’s energy supply. 

Who is 'Jim'?

He’s a doctor. But not the kind you want in a medical emergency. He's the guy you'd call to resuscitate a boring Estimates hearing or fire up a lacklustre Labor caucus.

He received his doctorate in political science from ANU. 

His thesis was themed around the prime ministership of his idol Paul Keating, titled: Brawler statesman: Paul Keating and prime ministerial leadership in Australia.

Chalmers is considered more "honey tongued" than sharp and acerbic. His demeanour is a calm one. He likes to raise his voice about as much as he would hate to raise taxes right now.

He entered parliament in 2013 after being elected to the safe Labor seat of Rankin in Queensland, where he was born and raised in the Brisbane suburb of Logan.

He is married to a journalist and they have three kids under the age of 8.

Cents and sensibility

Before he became a politician, he worked for one. 

He had a front row seat to the most hectic times in the ALP’s modern history. 

He worked as a senior advisor and chief of staff to former Treasurer Wayne Swan from 2007 and worked on five Budgets. 

He crunched numbers for the country while the cabinet at the time was more focused on their own personal ratings and polling when they rolled Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, installed Julia Gillard then knifed her. Then the electorate put the ALP in the sin bin for close to a decade. 

Prior to this year’s election he had spent his entire MP life in opposition. When he won, his team lost to Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party. 

In 2019 he was the campaign spokesperson for Bill Shorten’s ill-fated tilt at becoming PM. 

Following that bruising defeat Anthony Albanese was installed as leader and Chalmers slotted into the now PM’s inner sanctum as the numbers man. 

After nine years working to become the shadow finance minister and always in the shadow of former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, he’s now Australia’s 41st Treasurer. 

However he does seem to be cursed by bad economic forecasts. 

He was deeply entrenched in Swan’s office working for the Rudd government during the global financial crisis of 2008. 

He learned so much from that storm he’s confident he can help navigate Australia through another set of choppy waters. 

He even wrote a hand book on it called Global Daze: How a world beating nation got so down on itself.

What’s his vibe?

In the Labor party there are factions. Left and Right. Chalmers is of the Right. But he has long stated the Venn diagram of market economics and social justice is more like a circle. 

“I reconcile them in a very simple way by believing that inclusion and growth are complementary and not at odds,” he said during his first speech to Parliament back in 2013. 

Responsible, solid, firm but fair - is how he conducts himself. 

Let’s see if that checks out on Tuesday night when he approaches the Dispatch Box in parliament at 7.30pm to show us his homework.