Jim Chalmers is being panned by critics because he is prepared to stand up and tell some home truths. He states a fact that cannot be refuted: the war in the Middle East is impacting strongly on the economy of Australia. Petrol prices have sky-rocketed because of Donald Trump’s mismanagement of the war he launched against Iran. Chalmers is also right in saying that four out of five dollars accounting for demand growth came from the private sector. Public demand growth has actually slowed.

Apparently 10 Labor caucus members were approached by journalists. We are not told how many of those decried what Jim Chalmers was doing. This handful of the 124 Labor MPs from both houses are would not hold a candle to Jim Chalmers’ expertise as an economist. The one disaffected MP was quoted as saying he was not an economist. Ne-er a truer word was spoken. Yet his utterings on the economy are given precedence over those who are.

Chris Minns is described as being on the warpath against the federal government after he stated categorically that both state and federal governments need to conscious of their spending. Hardly a ‘warpath’ comment. The federal government has retained its triple A credit rating from all three credit rating agencies, while the Queensland government has just had its credit rating downgraded by S&P.