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It also mentioned that the government’s housing target of 1.2 million new homes by mid-2029 is unrealistic and should be reconsidered.
The ABC reported receiving a heavily redacted version of the incoming government brief through a freedom of information request, although several headings from the advice remained unredacted.
Chalmers stated that the complete details of the advice he received weren’t “adequately captured in the subheadings”, and the government was already addressing the topics mentioned.
“What’s happened here is a Treasury official has sent those documents in error, that sort of thing happens from time to time,” he said.
“I’m pretty relaxed about it, to be honest, because, of course, Treasury provides advice for incoming governments and no government typically goes into the detail of that.
“The other reason I’m pretty relaxed about it is we have already made it really clear that we will need to do more to meet our housing targets.
“We have already made it really clear that we will do more to make our economy more productive and more resilient.”
The publication of the advice comes as the government is facing widespread calls to overhaul the tax system, which is heavily reliant on personal income tax but at the same time failing to provide enough revenue to meet spending needs.
“The last election campaign was a frustrating one, with neither side offering much to grapple with a range of issues,” economist Chris Richardson said.
“So it’s marvellous to be able to peak at the independent advice Treasury gave to the returned government.
“None of that advice is surprising, but equally none of it is as familiar to Australians as it should be.
“Far better that these issues are raised and discussed – if we’re to get a better nation, we need a better conversation.”
“Both the prime minister and I have made it pretty clear, when it comes to the GST we had a view about that historically and that view hasn’t changed,” he said.
“We have tried not to artificially limit the ideas of the states or others that will bring to the roundtable…
“We are interested in ways to simplify the tax system.”
