Sarah-Jane Tasker: Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ ambition in check. For now

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he doesn’t want the top job.

He made that claim at the end of an impressive performance at The West Australian’s Leadership Matters breakfast on Thursday that left many in the room thinking he has what it takes to earn the keys to The Lodge.

Fresh from an early morning jog with his former State counterpart Ben Wyatt (who left politics despite speculation he was eyeing the top local gig), Chalmers told the prestigious business event his goal is to be a “really effective Treasurer in a really great Government”. And if he can achieve that he’d “sit on the porch and be pretty happy”.

Maybe so, but I’d bet he’d be happier sitting on the porch as PM. Albanese doesn’t need to look over his shoulder but he should take note of Chalmers’ polished performance that played to the audience.

He was at ease talking to the top end of Perth’s business crowd and found common ground with his concerns about the Greens pushing for tougher tax rules on the gas giants.

Chalmers urged business leaders to force the Liberal Party to back his changes to the petroleum resources rent tax.

Yes, he knows the tax changes aren’t what the industry would’ve chosen if it had other options, but he warns Peter Dutton’s refusal to play ball “opens the door to the Greens”.

“It would be diabolical . . . to see the Coalition vacate the field and to leave a policy as important as this to the whims of the Senate,” he said.

A Labor Treasurer pleading with a business crowd to force the Libs to back a tax change — now that’s the confidence of a future PM.