Budget delivers population explosion, crashing environment, and widening inequality

In his first or October Budget, Jim Chalmers published an already-huge 235,000 net-migration target for 2022-23. Knowing full well, he'd surf way over the top.

He offered boutique climate and environment measures. Which only dented the surface of fossil fuels forever, laissez-faire logging and land clearing, plus overpopulation by design.

He also offered a desultory Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF). Carefully designed, to nip at the margins of the burgeoning housing and rental crisis.

Post-October, his 235,000 whoopsie-d into 300,000, then 350,000. Maybe even 400,000. Smashing Kevin Rudd's federation record. Chalmers fed this to his media chooks. They never blinked.

He even claimed that our population was trending smaller and older. The media loved that one.

Our summer environmental "debate" was totally dominated, as you would expect these days, by the United Nations climate manifesto.

Fun for preening politicians. Of less certain reward, to Australia's crashing habitat (hullo, southwest hotspot or wet tropics) and species (hi, alpine vertebrates or unmapped flora).

Thus, the carbon-credits whitewash segued into ineffectual climate legislation segued into a gestural net zero authority .

What of housing? The "debate" generally accepted that the escalating housing crisis had very little to do with the excess demand engendered by the biblical population drive.

Political donors and "stakeholders" did a marvellous job, cranking out their supply-side fibs. Just to rub it in, the government invented one of its own. Namely, that voters themselves had exacerbated the crisis, by selfishly shrinking their COVID-era households.

Now, after seven months, a second Chalmers Budget crowns the hallowed Treasury traditions. While creating a few of its own.

Traditionally, the Australian Budget leans heavily on immigration and population for "growth". This is never mentioned in the Treasurer's victory speech. Instead, the rigid population plan is squirrelled into an Appendix A, with no justification or explanation.