Jim Chalmers wants to make Australia more fair – but is it enough to stave off the threat from One Nation?

‘Jim Chalmers was able to prosecute his budget confidently, as if he really understood it and believed in it with all of its upsides, downsides and in between,” Zoe Daniel writes. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Jim Chalmers’ budget has been dubbed an “extraordinary political gamble” – but maybe it’s the opposite.

While the tabloids have described it as a “madhouse budget” and the opposition has walked straight into the trap of joining them, Chalmers is being more pragmatic than woke.