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Budget 2022: Who is new Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers?

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers holds the 2022 Budget handbook.
New Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down his first Budget. (Source: Getty) (Martin Ollman via Getty Images)

Jim Chalmers is the Treasurer of Australia, which means he heads up the Treasury, which - according to the official website - provides advice to the Government and develops sustainable economic and fiscal outcomes for Australians.

In less-complicated terms, Jim Chalmers and Treasury do the money and the budgets that dictate what gets spent and what gets saved.

More Budget news:

Before the Albanese Government swept into power in May this year, Chalmers was the shadow treasurer in opposition from 2019 to 2022. Before that, he was chief of staff to former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan.

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But, while federal budgets are nothing new to him, this is the first one where he is calling the shots as Treasurer.

Beyond that, Chalmers is the member for Rankin on the outskirts of Brisbane and is a born and bred Queenslander.

He is also one of just a handful of federal MPs who hold a PhD. So, technically, it’s Dr Jim.

And, while he holds a doctorate in political science and not medicine, some might argue he’s about to apply some economic first aid to the nation.

Chalmers grew up in the modest outer suburbs of Brisbane and is the child of a courier and a nurse, who divorced when he was a teen.

At just 44, he is still relatively young for an MP, let alone a treasurer (with the average age of Aussie pollies clocking in at 51 years.)

He is married to journalist and writer Laura Anderson, with whom he shares three young children - seven-year-old Leo, five-year-old Annabel and three-year-old Jack.

Along with Finance Minister Katy Gallagher - who is also a parent to three young kids - Chalmers is well positioned to understand the pressures Australian families are under with the cost of living and inflation on the rise.

Today, he has said that his first budget is aimed at the Australians who are battling through hard times and believe in a better future.

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