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The Rookie

Jim Chalmers prepares to give a haircut to a large gorilla with the word 'budget' on its forehead. A zookeeper says, 'You're new at this, aren't you'.

In a climate of inflation, rising interest rates, global economic uncertainty and a cost-of-living crisis, Brett Lethbridge suggests that taming the Australian federal Budget would not be as straightforward as Treasurer Jim Chalmers thinks. The caption’s implication that Chalmers is new to this is a bit misleading, as by May 2023 he had already handed down the 2022–23 Budget (October).