The timing of Chalmers’ humiliating super backdown is cynical for two reasons

But rather than explaining that he had made some “tweaks” (also known as wholesale changes) after two years of “feedback” (also known as criticism), Chalmers sounded like a man wishing he were on a tropical island like the Prime Minister.

Indexation is now in place, taxation of unrealized gains is over, 8,000 Australians with balances over $10 million will pay a 40 per cent tax levy on anything over that huge sum, and low-income super tax offsets will be switched so that wasters can save more for retirement.

Chalmers’ desire to emulate Paul Keating is well known and Labor’s grand treasurer confirmed the changes within minutes of the announcement.

But the current treasurer has not achieved success like Keating’s, at least so far.

Chalmers, for example, claims to have implemented important microeconomic reforms, but who can name any of them?

He managed to persuade the prime minister to make changes to Scott Morrison’s phase three tax cuts in January last year, after being overruled in October 2022 and despite the changes falling short of a pre-election promise.

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But promising millions of Australians they will receive additional tax relief is not a difficult proposition for voters to accept amid a cost-of-living crisis.

And Chalmers had less success with other important reforms.

The treasurer was always a leading supporter in opposition to former leader Bill Shorten’s plans to roll back tax cuts for negative gearing, capital gains tax and family trusts.

Albanese abandoned all these policies after becoming leader in 2019. After briefly considering last year’s negative gearing and capital gains tax changes, backed by Chalmers’ encouragement and treasury modelling, the prime minister decided to override his treasurer, who had once again lost the argument.

The prime minister’s innate caution and the treasurer’s willingness to reform are the defining characteristics of this government, and as is usually the case, Albanese took charge and instructed the treasurer to make these pension changes.

This is his prerogative. Albanese wants to rival Bob Hawke in the pantheon of great Labor prime ministers who changed the country, but he won’t if he continues to evade reform.

And if Chalmers continues to float major reform proposals, history will remember him more as John Kerin than Paul Keating.

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