Jim Chalmers was successful in gaining entry into the House of Representatives in the federal election held in Australia in 2013, taking the Rankin seat located in the southern part of Brisbane.

He worked in Bill Shorten’s and Anthony Albanese’s shadow ministries before becoming treasurer after Labor won the federal election in 2022. Dr. Jim Chalmers was born in Brisbane, and he got his PhD in political science from the Australian National University. Let’s read his full biography and net worth below.

Wikipedia Profile & Background

Real Name:	James Edward Chalmers
Date of Birth:	2 March 1978
Age:	45 years old @ 2023
State of Origin:	Queensland, Australia
Place of Birth:	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Nationality:	Australian
Wife:	Laura Anderson ​(m. 2013)
Kids – Children	3
Occupation:	Politician
Net Worth:	< $3 million
Political Party:	Australian Labor Party
Education:	Australian National University
Parents:	Graham and Carol Chalmers

Jim Chalmers Biography

James Edward Chalmers is a prominent politician in Australia who has held the position of Treasurer of Australia since May 23, 2022. He was born in Australia on March 2, 1978. Since 2013, he has been representing the Rankin electoral district in parliament as a member of parliament for the Australian Labor Party (ALP), which he joined in 2013.

Family – Parents

Chalmers is the youngest of three children born to Graham and Carol Chalmers, all of whom were born in Brisbane. His mother was a nurse, and both of his parents had jobs in the medical field. His father was a messenger. By the time he was 14, his parents had already split, and his older sisters had already moved out.

Age – Date of Birth

James Edward Chalmers was born on the 2nd day of March, 1978. He is currently at the age of 44 years in 2023 and he will be 45 in 2023.

His Wife And Kids – Children

Laura Anderson is a journalist and writer who previously worked as a staffer for Penny Wong and Julia Gillard. In March of 2013, Jim Chalmers married Laura Anderson. The couple is parents to three little ones.

Their wedding took place two days after a leadership challenge inside the ALP, and Gillard and Wayne Swan, among other people, were in attendance. Gillard “convened a council of war in a specially set-aside chamber to frame a new ministry” while she was in attendance at the meeting.

Education

The politician was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Logan City, located to the south of Brisbane, was where Jim Chalmers spent his childhood. Before continuing his education at Griffith University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in addition to a Bachelor of Commerce degree, he received his education in Catholic schools.

After that, he went on to earn a doctorate in political science from the Australian National University. The topic of his dissertation was the leadership of Paul Keating as prime minister of Australia, and the title of his doctoral thesis was “Brawler statesman: Paul Keating and prime ministerial leadership in Australia.”

Early Career In Politics

Jim Chalmers was employed as a research officer in the Department of Premier and Cabinet under the leadership of Peter Beattie, the Premier of Queensland, from 1999 to 2001. Between the years 2002 and 2004, he worked as the national research manager for the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

Between 2005 and 2006, he served as the media adviser to the Shadow Treasurer, Wayne Swan. In 2006, he was the deputy chief of staff for the Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley, and between 2006 and 2007, he was a senior adviser to the Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma.

Following Labor’s victory in the 2007 federal election, Jim Chalmers went back to work for Wayne Swan in the Department of the Treasury. First, he served as the department’s deputy chief of staff and principal adviser (from 2007 to 2010), and later, he was promoted to the position of chief of staff (2010–2013).

In 2013, he held the position of executive director at the Chifley Research Centre for a short period of time. In the same year, he wrote and released Glory Daze, a book that explored the disparity between Australia’s robust economic performance and the general populace’s dissatisfaction with the government.

Member of Parliament

At the federal election in 2013, Chalmers succeeded Craig Emerson, an ALP member who was stepping down to become the new representative for Rankin in the House of Representatives. He won the Labor preselection by defeating former Member of Parliament Brett Raguse.

In October of 2013, Chalmers was elevated to the position of shadow parliamentary secretary. In October of 2015, he was elevated to the position of shadow minister, and after the election in 2016, he was appointed to the shadow cabinet as the Shadow Minister for Finance.

Following the results of the federal election in 2019, Jim Chalmers publicly contemplated a run for the position of party leader and Leader of the Opposition to succeed Bill Shorten.

Along with the fact that he is a member of the Labor Right faction, his relative youth and the fact that he was born and raised in Queensland were also seen to be potential positives.

On the other hand, several members of his faction had already made the decision to back the Labor Left candidate Anthony Albanese. Jim Chalmers made the decision in the end not to run for the job, which cleared the way for Albanese to take over as leader without any competition.

After further consideration, he decided against running for the position of deputy leader. After that, he received a promotion to the position of Shadow Treasurer in Albanese’s cabinet.

Albanese Government

Labor Party won the 2022 Australian federal election, and Albanese swore in himself, Chalmers, and three other prominent Labor frontbenchers as an interim five-person administration. Chalmers became Australia’s treasurer. He was interim Home Affairs Minister until the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. Chalmers’ first budget was in October 2022.

Chalmers is Labor Right. In 2016, he co-founded the Courtyard Group, a roundtable for Labor MPs and “Australia’s greatest progressive thinkers” from industry, academia, media, and consumer advocacy groups.

According to political scientist Carol Johnson, Chalmers’ 2013 book Glory Daze “conceived Labor as standing for intergenerational mobility, aspiration, and the Fair Go” His 2017 book Changing Jobs: The fair go in the new machine age called for a robot tax to reduce technological unemployment.

He supports universal basic income. Jim Chalmers said an ALP administration wouldn’t raise taxes on corporations before the 2022 election. His campaign emphasized cost-of-living issues and working with business.