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An ABC morning host has questioned the timing of a “soft big profile” report on Treasurer Jim Chalmers in which he admitted he drank every night.
Weekend News Breakfast host Fauziah Ibrahim asked behavioral economist Evan Lucas for his thoughts on the timing of the article’s publication.
His question came the same day the article, written by veteran investigative journalist Deborah Snow, was published by Nine’s Good Weekend magazine on Saturday.
Dr Chalmers made a series of revelations about his personal struggles, including excessive drinking and recovering from skin cancer, while opening up his path to becoming treasurer and his lifelong passion for politics.
Discussing his decision to stop drinking, the Treasurer was asked about comments he was “going a bit socially loose” around Parliament.
“Because I was drinking too much,” Dr. Chalmers told the review.
Ibrahim asked Mr Lucas why this “high-profile” article was published during what has been a tumultuous time for the Albanian government.
An ABC morning host has questioned the timing of a lengthy report on Treasurer Jim Chalmers in which he admitted he drank every night.
Dr Chalmers made a series of astonishing revelations about his personal struggles, including excessive drinking and recovering from skin cancer, while opening up his path to becoming treasurer and his lifelong passion for politics.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been criticized for his frequent overseas trips as Australians continue to struggle at home, while the government has been criticized for being caught late by the High Court’s decision to rule against the indefinite detention of asylum seekers.
Dr Chalmers is also grappling with a cost of living crisis, with inflation at 5.4 per cent and the cash interest rate at a 12-year high at 4.35 per cent.
“Deborah Snow’s article says he doesn’t seem to do anything in moderation,” Ibrahim said.
“The question I have and maybe it’s just me being cynical here (is) why now, why this nice big profile piece on the treasurer right now?”
“That’s a very good question, Fauziah and again, yes, that cynical part of my brain is clicking thinking that, you know, this has been a pretty trying week for the government,” Mr Lucas responded.
He also called Snow’s article a “soap opera”, suggesting it had been used to promote Dr. Chalmers.
Mr Lucas said the Voice referendum defeat on October 14 had also been “deadly” for the government.
“This is probably a good time to show, you know, what a future generation of MPs clearly is – this man is only 45,” he said.
“He has very strong ambitions and it is very clear that he could one day be the next prime minister of this country, given his position.”
Snow declined to comment on the timing of the article’s publication when contacted by Daily Mail Australia.
Daily Mail Australia has also contacted Ibrahim, ABC, Dr Chalmers and Mr Lucas for comment.
A note from Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland in the magazine detailed how the article about the treasurer was written and how long the process took, with the initial interview taking place two years ago month.
“It is rare, in our age of media management, for a politician to open up to a journalist about his human vulnerabilities and weaknesses,” Strickland wrote.
“His opponents will no doubt question his motives and/or use his open-mindedness against him.
“Call me naive but I tend to believe Chalmers when he says that, having committed to this profile – which was our idea, not his – he wanted to do it properly.”
The editor also anticipated that some might wonder why the publication was profiling the federal treasurer 18 months after he held the position.
“Because, clearly, we are entering the most dangerous economic period, not just in Australia but around the world,” Strickland wrote.
“And that was before the Middle East exploded.”
Federal Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers (wife Laura pictured) gave a lengthy interview in which he revealed he stopped drinking three years ago.
The Queensland MP said he didn’t want to teach his children Leo, 8, Annabel, 6, and Jack, 4 (pictured with him and his wife Laura) that drinking was the normal way to relax.
“Given this, we felt it was worth finding out more about the man who, alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, will lead Australia’s response to any eventuality.”
Dr. Chalmers said in the article that he went total because he didn’t want his children Leo, 8, Annabel, 6, and Jack, 4, to think that drinking wine and beers on the couch every Evenings were the normal way to relax.
Other topics covered during the interview included Mr Chalmers’ journey to becoming treasurer, after developing a passion for politics and history at high school thanks to one of his teachers.
He then wrote to the same professor after obtaining a doctorate in political science and international relations to thank him for his support.
The sports enthusiast spoke about his love for the Broncos and how he still plays basketball and trains at his local F45 gym whenever he can.
His newfound health boost may also have been spurred by a frightening battle with skin cancer, a melanoma cut from his chest in late 2020, which affected him for months as the wound refused to heal properly.
At one point he spent the night in Canberra Hospital’s emergency room before ending up in front of Parliament cameras the next morning, sleepless.
Ibrahim has sparked controversy in the past: she was taken off air in the run-up to the 2022 federal election after it emerged she had a list of “lobotomized shitheads” and “trolls/thugs”. work” on social networks. x.
She was back on the air a week after the elections