Rather than stopping his spending spree or growing the economic pie, the treasurer continues to reach for higher taxes, more debt, and bigger government.
As published in the Australian Financial Review 17 October 2025
Australia has been spared – at least for now – from the worst instincts of the Albanese government.
After months of hubris and missteps, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been forced to backflip on his deeply unpopular plan to raid the retirement savings of hardworking Australians through his “superannuation tax 1.0”.
His decision to dump his superannuation proposal isn’t a sign of newfound fiscal discipline or respect for retirement savings. It’s a sign that even within his own ranks, there are limits to how far the government can stretch public trust before it snaps.
Make no mistake: this was a humiliating defeat for Chalmers.
The treasurer’s plan to tax unrealised capital gains on non-indexed superannuation balances over $3 million was never about fairness or sustainability. It was about feeding the government’s addiction to spending.
By targeting those who had saved and invested responsibly, Labor revealed its instinctive preference for redistribution over reward, and for class politics over sound policy.
Now, the treasurer has returned with a so-called “revised” plan – his “super tax 2.0”.
“Australia requires policies that encourage aspiration … not those that punish success and seek to pit the old against the young.”
We are told that this new approach will be fairer, simpler, and more sustainable. In reality, it merely scrapes a few barnacles off the original shipwreck.
Chalmers’ latest idea isn’t economic reform, but damage control. He announced super tax 2.0 to deflect attention from super tax 1.0.
We know this because he can’t even answer the most basic questions on his new plan: how will it operate, who will be impacted and by how much, will the new tax apply to gains accrued before the start date, how will defined benefits schemes be treated, including the prime minister’s?
No answers. All politics, no substance.
The best you can say about Chalmers’ latest idea is that it’s consistent with his reflex to tax first and think later. This government is more interested in dividing Australians than seeking a rising tide to lift all boats.
Rather than stopping his spending spree or growing the economic pie, Chalmers continues to reach for the same tired playbook: higher taxes, more debt, and bigger government.