Commentary
Australia’s federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is a young man in a hurry. While his mentor was Treasurer Wayne Swan, for whom he worked between 2007 and 2013, he appears to have Paul Keating’s trajectory in mind—treasurer to the prime minister.
But Keating’s rise was meteoric. Winning office in only March 1983, he had done enough by 1984 to be named Euromoney Magazine’s Treasurer of the Year. The first eight months included the Prices and Incomes Accord and the floating of the Australian Dollar.
By contrast, Chalmer’s 11 months have been relatively mundane, and the opportunity to stamp his mark is retreating in front of him….