Are those hovering dunce caps in danger of slipping down and becoming permanent fixtures on the heads of Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers?

As the weeks slip by, that possibility grows, and that’s a very sad thing.

And why? While the voices grow ever so louder for those stage-three income tax cuts to be scrapped, our PM and Treasurer remain steadfast in their support for them, all the while wringing their hands and explaining why so many good things can’t be done with federal government money due to enormous fiscal restraints.

Let’s be clear. Those $243 billion of tax cuts over a decade from 2024 are bullshit. They overwhelmingly favour the well-off, and men over women. They are probably the most un-Labor-like things a gutless ALP was conned/wedged/tricked into supporting in the first place.

The argument by Albanese and Chalmers that breaking a promise and axing those cuts would be politically damaging is bullshit. If they seriously don’t think they can sell that broken promise to an electorate now acutely aware of the cooked books left by nine years of LNP mismanagement and a zillion dollars in debt, then maybe they only deserve one term.

The argument that Newscorpse in particular, but probably the Herald mastheads, the shockjocks and others as well, will “annihilate”, “crucify” and “destroy” the government is bullshit. Believe that shit and the Sun-Herald and 3AW are going to get Matthew Guy elected in a landslide in Victoria in November. Newscorpse is a fucking joke, a toothless tiger. Its days of swaying election outcomes are long gone. Well, certainly not in the way they hoped for.

The argument that the cuts don’t come in for two years and Labor can allow the case to build – from other politicians, the labour movement, welfare groups, economists and mainstream media finance and business writers worth reading – before big-noting themselves by finally acting is bullshit. The longer Albanese and Chalmers hold out, the weaker they look.

The argument that the tax cuts legislation would be too hard or impossible to repeal is bullshit. Fran Kelly tried that bullshit on during last Sunday’s ABC Insiders.

The argument that Labor at some time down the track can tweak those tax cuts is bullshit. Just axe the fuckers NOW. Introduce fresh legislation that looks after the not-so-well off – interesting Labor philosophy, that! – and addresses bracket creep if need be.

These two clowns should have faced the cameras a few weeks into their term and have been not at all embarrassed to admit they’re breaking an election promise. To state clearly and simply how those tax cuts have absolutely no logical role in the stated levers they plan to pull to turn the economy around. They know it; they should have had the guts to say it.

If they don’t think they’ll gain more votes than they’ll lose by ditching these stupid, unfair, cuts that go a long way to ending the progressive tax system that has served this country well for many decades and has provided the revenue for a federal government to do the things Australians expect of it – remember those days? – then maybe Albanese and Chalmers need to step aside and give some true-blue Labor folk a go.

There’s a lot of other talent on the Labor frontbench.

Don Gordon-Brown