Jim Chalmers attacks Josh Frydenberg for mocking him about yoga

Jim Chalmers has criticized his predecessor Josh Frydenberg for mocking him for his embrace of yoga and Hindu spirituality while presenting a vision to remake capitalism.

The Treasurer used a 6,000-word essay in The Monthly magazine to recall his former opponent’s parliamentary sleigh against him in February 2020, just before the start of the pandemic.

At the time, then New Zealand Labor Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was popular after announcing a 2019 “welfare” budget and the Australian Labor Party wanted to adopt a similar concept, following three consecutive election defeats.

‘When the Labor Party was talking about a welfare budget; the then federal treasurer laughed at question time about yoga mats and incense,” said Dr. Chalmers.

“Not only did it miss out on the dominance of yoga studies in its own constituency or misinterpret the rapidly growing South Asian religious communities in Australia, it also misinterprets people’s appetite for a more conscious sense of well-being.

“Perhaps the key lesson of the pandemic was missed: that healthy economies depend on healthy people and communities.”

Frydenberg outraged some Hindu community leaders at the time for mocking Chalmers, who keeps Rankin’s Labor constituency safe, covering south Brisbane and Logan.

I was thinking yesterday, as a member of Rankin, [came] in the chamber fresh from his ashram deep in the Himalayan mountains… barefoot in the chamber, billowing robes, incense burning, beads in one hand, wellness budget in the other,” Frydenberg said in 2020.

‘I thought to myself [what] yoga position the member of Rankin would assume… to deliver the first wellness quote?’

Mr Frydenberg lost his inner Melbourne Liberal Kooyong seat in the May 2022 election, while Dr Chalmers has publicly worn his Hindu spirituality on his sleeve.

The Treasurer, who was educated in Catholic schools, last week wore five wristbands.

Four are Nadachadis, which in the Hindu religion are considered ‘sacred’ threads that are usually blessed and tied for protection in prayer.

The Nadachadis come from their local Baps Swaminarayan temple in Kingston, in their constituency.

The fifth, a dark pink sash sandwiched between two pairs of nadichadis is one of her daughter Annabel’s hair bands.

Dr. Chalmers also used his essay in The Monthly, titled Capitalism After Crises, to hint at more government intervention in the economy, repudiating the ‘Washington Consensus’ formula of ‘more market, not less’.

“This school of thought assumed that markets would normally correct themselves before disaster struck,” he said.

“So for a decade before the pandemic, when most advanced economies had terrible records, governments and independent authorities, backed by conservative bias and vested interests, still mostly stuck to a negative form of economics. on the supply side.

‘They pursued vaguely defined objectives for competitiveness through a race to the bottom on wages and public investment.’

Despite coming from the centrist right-wing faction of Labor in Queensland, Dr Chalmers appears lukewarm about free market economics and deregulation, blaming the 2008 global financial crisis for exposing his failings.

“While the 2008 crisis finally exposed the illegitimacy of this approach, a new consensus has yet to be reached,” he said.

At the time, he was chief of staff to another Labor treasurer, Wayne Swan, when Kevin Rudd, as prime minister for the first time, wrote an essay in The Monthly criticizing neoliberal economics based on the idea of ​​lower taxes and smaller government. . .

The Labor Party, under former Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, had privatized the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas and floated the Australian dollar.

The Keating government had also introduced company bargaining in 1993 so that Australia would not repeat the spiraling double-digit price and wage inflation that occurred in the early 1980s.

But under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Labor is embarking on multi-employer bargaining, following nine years of Australian wage increases that hovered below the long-term average of three per cent.

Labor also wants the government to play a more active role in mitigating the effects of climate change.

‘How do we build this more inclusive and resilient economy, increasingly powered by cheaper and cleaner energy? Strengthening our institutions and capacity, focusing on the intersection of prosperity and well-being, evidence, place and community, collaboration and cooperation,” said Dr. Chalmers.

‘By reinventing and redesigning markets, seeking value and impact, strengthening safeguards and guardrails in areas of uncontrolled risk.

‘And with coordination and co-investment: recognizing that government, business, philanthropic and investor interests and objectives are increasingly aligned and intertwined.’

But Dr Chalmers acknowledged there were limits to big government spending, despite Labor pledging to stick with Stage Three tax cuts that will cost $254bn over a decade.

“This is partly a reality of our fiscal position: The federal budget is heavily indebted and under pressure, so options for large, sweeping new programs are limited,” he said.

Gross public debt is approaching $1 trillion, a result of $300 billion in Covid stimulus spending by the previous coalition government.

However, Dr Chalmers, a 44-year-old father of three with a PhD in political science, is confident that Labor can remake capitalism.

“My optimism comes not just from the start of a new year, but from believing that, amidst all the difficulties, 2023 will be the year we build a better, more secure and forward-thinking, uniquely Australian capitalism,” said the Dr. Chalmers said.