What a crock. Treasurer’s talkfest forgets to cut spending

Treasurer Jim Chalmers claimed this gabfest would forge consensus on bold reforms.

Productivity isn’t some esoteric puzzle requiring endless panels and PowerPoints. It’s the driver of our standard of living, but it’s been stalled by Labor’s bureaucratic bloat and fiscal profligacy. Chalmers’ roundtable, with its leaked Treasury advice hinting at timid outcomes like freezing certain expenditures, reeks of the same old Labor playbook: consult, delay, and deflect.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Anyone else suspect ‘productivity’ might be Jim Chalmers’ code word for ‘raising taxes’? We’re hearing a lot of whispers leaking out of the roundtable about grave robbing (inheritance tax), raising the GST, a 2 per cent wealth tax, and other hikes. Tax is a punishment. Tax is meant to deter us naughty citizens from a bad activity. That’s the reason the government gives us for taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, and petrol. How does taxing productivity encourage productivity? What sort of magical money trees is the Treasurer planting in Canberra?

My latest in The Spectator Australia, What a crock. Treasurer’s talkfest forgets to cut spending.

‘Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it.’

Australia is living this nightmare.https://t.co/IQ8piqmzym

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) August 21, 2025