No phones, no handlers, no nice snacks: day one in Chalmers’ VIP lock-up
By Shane Wright
The catering staff of Parliament House are taking to heart the issues central to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s economic roundtable.
As the late lunch break started on the first day of the three-day love-in, the staff rolled out the remnants of the morning’s work. A trolley with four large but near-empty hot water urns and a collection of mugs stained by lukewarm coffee.
Anthony Albanese, left, greets participants at the economic roundtable – biscuits and coffee came later.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
What was noticeable was what was absent from the trolley. No discarded sandwich wrappers. No waxed paper with chocolate muffin remains. Not even a container of half-eaten Venetian biscuits.
Traditionally, gatherings of the grand, self-important and policy wonks in federal parliament are catered as if an army is dropping by for a week.
But perhaps in a sign of the topic matter, the economic roundtable was focused only on what was necessary to get the collective minds of business leaders, unionists, academics, community groups and politicians thinking. In this case, coffee, tea and some plain biscuits.
At one point, Treasurer Jim Chalmers – perhaps getting in some training for running a meeting in the federal cabinet room – told those assembled they could get up and walk around to stretch their legs. But none took up the option, focused as they were on the issues at hand.
Without mobile phones (which were left at the cabinet door) or handlers or media managers, it was left to the almost 30 people in the room to work through the agenda put in front of them.
And that agenda kicked off with an issue close to the heart of almost every person on the planet, particularly the current occupant of the White House, a discussion about tariffs.
A year ago, Chalmers axed almost 500 nuisance tariffs, so-called because they are small, protect almost nothing and cost more than they raise in revenue.
Despite Chalmers’ move, there are still thousands of them. There’s a 5 per cent tariff on cotton face washers, for instance, but tea towels made from cotton or flax escape the impost. Travelling blankets made from rayon are tariff-free, but those woven from llama wool are hit with a 5 per cent tax.
Milk in coffee was about the only source of calories driving the first day of the economic roundtable.Credit: Joe Armao
No one in the cabinet room is in the linen or blanket import-export business, but most understood it makes little sense to put a tax on something that fails to produce a substantial revenue stream or protect a local industry (the Australian llama blanket market is pretty niche) while adding to the red tape of businesses.
Getting rid of such silly tariffs seems a no-brainer. But Chalmers’ move last year was the single largest hit to tariffs in a generation.
As Productivity Commission boss Danielle Wood noted before the roundtable, the days of big-bang economic reforms such as floating the dollar are largely over. Lifting the economy’s speed limit, and boosting living standards, is now measured in inches.
Around the table, even with the differing interests among those who have been assembled for the discussions, there was a degree of cooperation and agreement.
That’s unlikely to last.
After being stuck in an airless room that is cut off from outside communication (and even the diversion of the latest Taylor Swift meme on X), those attending this roundtable may be asking the catering staff for something a little stronger than coffee come Thursday.
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