In a move that would make Henry VIII gush with pride, Treasurer Jim Chalmers is trying to sneak through extraordinary powers under the guise of superannuation reform, powers that would allow him to shift the goalposts of taxation without ever needing to return to parliament. It’s rule by decree. And it’s a direct attack on the democratic principles that have long underpinned our system of government.

Exposed by The Australian’s economics editor Matthew Cranston, buried deep inside the Labor government’s new Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions and Other Amendments Bill is a little-known clause  (section 296-60 ) that would give the Treasurer a blank cheque to adjust key parts of his proposed tax on unrealised capital gains. That’s right, taxing Aussies on asset growth before they’ve sold anything, and giving himself the power to fiddle with the mechanics afterwards, at will.

This sly legislative trick is built on what constitutional experts call a Henry VIII clause, a label given to laws that let ministers override Acts of Parliament by regulation. They’re rare for good reason: they trash the tradition of parliamentary oversight. As Professor Greg Craven put it bluntly, such clauses are “constitutionally disreputable” and potentially unconstitutional.

| “A clause that allows the executive government to alter an act of Parliament or its effects is known as a Henry VIII clause because it bypasses the necessity for parliament to amend its own acts,” Craven warned.

He wasn’t alone. King’s Counsel Stuart Wood and constitutional lawyers have also raised alarm bells. Wood said this provision essentially gives the Treasurer power to remedy the unexpected consequences of his own law. In other words, Chalmers wants to play both lawmaker and judicial reviewer, all without scrutiny.

This is the sort of arrogance and democratic trashing that the radical Left whines everyone else does. One Nation always knew they’re hypocrites, but now their hypocrisy is written in law and buried under bureaucratic language.

The ramifications are enormous.

Under Labor’s plan, anyone with superannuation above $3 million will be taxed on unrealised gains, gains that haven’t been realised, gains that may never materialise. That threshold isn’t indexed, meaning more and more hardworking Australians will be caught in the net each year.

But with section 296-60, Chalmers wouldn’t even need to consult parliament if he wanted to lower that threshold further, say to $2 million to appease his extremist friends the Greens, or change the indexing rules altogether. He could agree to anything now, then shift the goal posts behind closed doors.

If this kind of executive law-making is allowed to stand, where does it stop?

Could the Treasurer start rewriting income tax thresholds next? Modify franking credits? Override family trust rules? Once parliament hands over its power to an individual minister, the floodgates open. This is precisely why our constitutional arrangements were designed to resist concentrated power, to ensure all Australians are protected from the whims of politicians drunk on authority.

It’s worth remembering the historical parallel here. Henry VIII infamously pushed through the Proclamation by the Crown Act 1539, giving himself unchecked power to rule by decree. That’s the tyrannical company Jim Chalmers is now keeping, and not in theory, but in legislative practice.

It’s hardly surprising that Jim Chalmers has taken such a heavy-handed, borderline authoritarian approach, he cut his teeth at the far-left echo chamber known as Griffith University, and topped it off with a PhD no less, on Paul Keating. That’s right, he devoted years of study to the man who famously called the Australian Senate, our house of legislative review, “unrepresentative swill.” A chamber designed to scrutinise precisely this kind of tyranny, dismissed out of hand by Chalmers’ political idol.

It seems Chalmers didn’t just study Keating, he absorbed his contempt for democratic accountability wholesale. Even Kevin Rudd, in his memoirs, labelled Chalmers a cry-baby. And here he is now, stamping his feet and trying to rewrite the rules of superannuation without parliamentary scrutiny.

And the irony? Even Paul Keating, even Keating, has slammed Labor’s approach to taxing super as economically reckless. When your hero thinks you’ve gone too far, you know you’re in dangerous territory.

Labor’s plan is expected to hit half a million Australians, not billionaires, but self-funded retirees, small business owners, and anyone prudent enough to save. And yet, this government would rather gamble with the Constitution than hold a proper debate in parliament.

At One Nation, we say this plainly: we would never support such a dishonest, anti-democratic approach to taxation or governance. Unlike Labor, we understand that true reform doesn’t come from hiding power in footnotes or shafting voters through obscure legislative backdoors. If something needs fixing, we’ll do it transparently, with full debate and democratic input.

This scandal, and trust us it is a growing scandal, must be a wake-up call. If Labor is willing to use trickery to push through this tax, they’ll do it again. It could be your mortgage next. Or your diesel rebate. Or your private health rebate. Or your retirement savings, again and again. We know when Labor is given one chance to grab money, they will take every chance to grab money.

Leaving Labor is charge of the Treasury is like leaving drunk toddlers in charge of a kindergarten.

The only way to stop this kind of tyranny is to call it out, and to stop it cold. Perhaps Australia needs its own version of the ‘No Kings’ campaign, but instead, ‘Stop Tyrannical King Jim’. .