Treasurer Jim Chalmers has celebrated a second consecutive budget surplus and dismissed the idea of a deliberate leak – as a Labor insider suggests he has plotted against his boss.
Dr. Chalmers boasted on Monday about how the final budget results for 2023-2024 will produce an even bigger surplus than forecast in the May budget.
“The difference was entirely explained by less expenditure, not more income,” he told ABC Radio National.
“We have actually collected less revenue than we expected at the time of the budget, but expenditure has fallen significantly.”
The Treasurer’s announcement comes after Cameron Milner, chief of staff to former Labor leader Bill Shorten, suggested Dr Chalmers had deliberately timed a negative alignment review last week to politically embarrass Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Nine newspapers received the drop, which revealed that the Treasury was reviewing existing negative gearing policy and whether a cap could be introduced, as well as the 50 percent capital gains tax credit.
The news was published as Dr Chalmers was on a flight to China, prompting Mr Albanese to ask some tough questions.
“Of all the days this could have been dropped, it was published exclusively on the morning before the treasurer boarded the plane for 10 hours,” Mr. Milner said in a News Corp op-ed.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers (pictured with wife Laura) crows about achieving a second consecutive budget surplus, while a Labor insider reveals how he plotted against his boss
“That meant the Prime Minister was left alone for a whole day to answer questions.”
The Treasurer’s announcement comes after Cameron Milner (pictured), who was chief of staff to former Labor leader Bill Shorten, suggested that Dr Chalmers had deliberately timed a negative alignment inquiry last week to politically embarrass Prime Minister Anthony Albanese .
But Dr Chalmers suggested on Monday that it was not in his interests for the Treasury’s modeling process to be leaked to the media.
“It’s not really worth worrying about it too much,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“You know, I would have liked to talk last week about very encouraging inflation numbers, very productive cooperation with Chinese counterparts and the fact that we are posting two consecutive surpluses for the first time in almost two decades.”
Mr Milner, a former Labor secretary of state in Queensland, said the whole affair showed Mr Albanese was short on details.
“It is notorious that Albanians never go into the details, while his treasurer never bothers with the details,” he said.
‘The only time Chalmers looks remotely disturbed is when he has to take the hits for his hapless leader.’
Dr. However, Chalmers refused to explicitly explain whether he had sought advice from the Treasury on negative gearing and the capital gains tax rebate, despite several attempts by national broadcaster Steve Cannane of ABC Radio.
‘Sometimes the advice comes unsolicited. Sometimes it is sought by me,” he said.
“On this occasion, if there is a contentious issue in the public domain and we have a serious housing shortage, the treasurers will of course receive advice from their department on these types of issues.”
Pressured again, Dr. Chalmers hinted that he had sought advice from the Treasury on negative gearing, despite Labor under Albanese dumping a policy to remove tax breaks for prospective investor-landlords after Shorten lost the 2016 and 2019 elections.
The news was published as Dr Chalmers was on a flight to China, prompting Mr Albanese to ask some tough questions
‘I have now made it clear a number of times over the course of a week that I was given this advice because it was a controversial issue, it was in the public domain and was a large part of the parliamentary issue. debate too,” said the treasurer.
Like Mr Milner, Dr Chalmers also belongs to the right-wing Labor faction in Queensland.
The Treasurer announced on Monday that the 2023-2024 budget surplus would be $15.8 billion, compared to the $9.3 billion forecast in the May budget.
The surpluses for 2022-23 and 2023-24 are the first consecutive surpluses since 2007 and the first for a federal Labor government since 1989.
But falling iron ore prices are expected to cause Australia to run budget deficits between 2024 and 2025 as the government receives less corporate tax revenue.
“We always take a consciously conservative approach to commodity prices, and rightly so,” Dr Chalmers said.
“In fact, our commodity prices have been quite low in recent months.
“Sometimes they even fell short of the assumptions we included in the budget.”
The Ministry of Finance’s Intergenerational Report last year predicted budget deficits until 2063.
