Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas spent budget day on Monday proving he’s no man to let a $5.2 billion stamp duty downturn get in the way of the Andrews government’s $107 billion infrastructure spendathon.
Then again, the Treasurer has new money-making initiatives including a tax plan to stop the wealthy from land banking and another levy on luxury cars to buoy government coffers as stamp duty collections hit a standstill.
Former Labor president turned Liberal Democrat-turned-Liberal candidate in Gilmore Warren Mundine would also be “taken seriously”, according to some factional powerbrokers. If this doesn’t work, maybe he could give the Australian Conservatives a go.