Chicken Chalmer’s budget high

Wednesday 26 March 2025

Treasurer Jim “chicken” Chalmers’ has released a hopeful new budget based upon some rosy assumptions.

The headline numbers are realistic, but the wage price index is not going to re-accelerate unless unemployment falls more than forecast amid ongoing mass immigration of cheap Indian workers.

This is a problem for revenue, especially with the mooted tax cuts.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.