or signup to continue reading He could have boasted, said it was all his own doing. He could have gloated. Proclaimed mission accomplished.
Instead, he cautioned the fight was not over. And he shared the credit for the welcome news with the people who had shouldered the burden, Australians like you and me who for the past three years watched our living standards slide in the face of inflation and the cost-of-living crunch. Jim Chalmers smiled but did not wear the smirk of a winner when he faced the media to welcome better-than-expected inflation figures released yesterday.
He was calm and measured, projecting confidence without arrogance. Getting inflation down without lifting unemployment was a remarkable achievement we should all be proud of, he said. This is a plea for all those in politics to adopt some of Chalmers' tone and delivery when pitching their policies.
To be more likeable. Watching him deliver his lines yesterday in clear, concise and non-combative language was refreshing after some of the nonsense hurled our way over the past few months. From the Prime Minister, whose utterances can be as engaging as a council briefing paper, to the Opposition Leader who trafficks endless granite-faced grievances, and so many in between, the intention seems to be to make politics as unappetising as possible.
Sussan Ley's cack-handed likening of the First Fleet to SpaceX, Musk and Mars. That little bloke who leads the Nationals floating a culture war on gender before being slap.
