Who would want to be Jim Chalmers right now?

October 29, 2026 — 5:00am

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Who would want to be Jim Chalmers right now? Even Chalmers, possessed of a near-preternatural ability to control himself in public settings, from time to time finds it difficult to mask his frustration. He recites his statistics in interviews and in the parliament, pointing to the inflationary effect of America’s ill-chosen seemingly forever war on Iran. He respects the independence of the Reserve Bank. And questions from gotcha-seeking interviewers. And the views of private sector economists in the cheap seats. And the heroes in the caucus and in other ministries who anonymously backbite and question his performance.

Here are some of Chalmers’ relevant statistics. Oil prices have increased by more than 55 per cent since the Iran war began eight months ago. Inflation in Australia is 4.3 per cent, which is also the OECD and G20 average. Almost half of the September inflation rise was caused by higher petrol prices. Average unemployment in the OECD is 5 per cent, 4.8 per cent in the G20 and 4.7 per cent in Australia. Consumer confidence in Australia is in line with the OECD average.

Australia’s growth rate is slightly lower than America’s and higher than in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Australia is one of just nine countries with AAA credit ratings from all major credit ratings agencies. Our top five trading partners are not on that list. Australia’s debt to GDP ratio is well below such countries as Germany, the UK and France.........

© The Sydney Morning Herald