There aren’t that many people used to the life of a federal treasurer.
The long, long hours throwing together budgets, keeping a tab on the desires of spendthrift ministers, aligning politics with economics while being beholden to events way beyond your control, make the job of treasurer the most challenging in a government.
A prime minister has successfully climbed the greasy pole of politics to sit at the top. The treasurer, many of whom hanker to climb that same pole, has to mix politics with the laws of economics. Often, they don’t mix.
Since Federation, just 41 men have been treasurer – from Bob Hawke, who held the title for just a single day between Paul Keating and John Kerin, to Peter Costello, who served 11 years and 267 days.
And over the years, each has in some way leant on those who have gone before.
This week, Jim Chalmers revealed how closely Keating had been involved in his superannuation tax overhaul for those with more than $3 million in their retirement nest eggs.
Paul Keating and Jim Chalmers at the VISY/AFR Roundtable in August 2022. Credit: Jeremy Piper
“I appreciate the opportunity to talk about super with him from time to time – sometimes very frequently – including last week to talk to him about the economy more broadly and my job as treasurer more broadly,” he said on Tuesday.
Chalmers, whose doctoral thesis was titled “Brawler statesman: Paul Keating and prime ministerial leadership in Australia”, has had plenty of advice from Keating over superannuation.
