Saturday, 17 October 2026

Topics: death tax; ATO credit card ban; the Coalition’s Tax Back Guarantee; Albanese-Chalmers relationship; European Union FTA; small business; Jess Wilson’s Fresh Start for Victoria; Josh Frydenberg; digital duty of care.

E&OE……………………..

Tim Wilson: This morning, Australians have woken up to yet another tax from the Albanese government's budget. The Albanese government's budget is full of tax landmines, and we know that unless Australians change their wills and incur huge costs by going and seeing their solicitor, they're going to be exposed to a death tax, and Australians are sick of it. This government is only focused on how it is going to increase taxes on ordinary Australians. We might have lawyers winning, we might have accountants winning, but Australians are going backwards. We equally have revelations today in the paper that the government knew about the ATO credit card ban as a consequence of surcharge changes. It's now been revealed that the government has been knee-deep connected to the problems associated with the ATO credit card ban and its impact on small business. Not only did Jim Chalmers sanction it, but he was an active participant in endorsing the process of the ATO credit card ban that is hurting small business. But what's really been revealed today in the paper is report after report after report of a psychodrama now within the government. A psychodrama within the government of a fight between the Prime Minister and the Treasurer where they're constantly arguing with each other and they're not focused on the Australian people. The focus of the government is on itself and how it is going to tax Australians, not back them to get ahead. And while Australians are desperately struggling with financial pressure, the Albanese government is focused on its internal psychodrama fight between the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. Australians are living with the consequences of it because the government is not focused on them.

Journalist: Despite what you've just said, do you think Jim Chalmers is taking too much heat for the nation's economic narrative at the moment? Shouldn't an equal amount rest on the Prime Minister?

Tim Wilson: The problem we've got is the government has consistently run an economic model that is undermining the wealth and prosperity of Australians. The government has an active inflation agenda stoked by the spending of the Treasurer, which continues to compound the impact on small business and households. The Albanese government's active inflation agenda is driving up unemployment, it's driving up spending, it's driving up inflation, and it's driving up interest rates. That means that Australians are falling further behind, they're paying more on their mortgage, and they're going to the supermarket and paying more and getting less. Now, the Prime Minister has endorsed this agenda, but the Treasurer is the one who is driving it.

Journalist: The Nationals Leader Matt Canavan claimed yesterday the Coalition is opposed to the European Union free trade agreement. Can you clarify what is the Liberals' position? Are the Liberals opposed to the agreement and, if so, why?

Tim Wilson: We think this agreement fundamentally lets down Australian primary producers and particularly the agriculture sector. Meat and Livestock Australia isn't going out endorsing it. The National Farmers Federation isn't going out endorsing it because this is not a deal that is advancing Australia's national interest or increasing our market access for agriculture to the European market. So, we've said that on the current terms, we're opposed to it, conditional on it going through proper parliamentary and Coalition processes. What we want is a better deal for Australian businesses and particularly Australia's agriculture that have been sold short by Don Farrell because he wants to retire early. Don Farrell is interested in tidying up this deal so he can move on with his political career, but he's selling out Australia's national interest in the process. Frankly, this is a complete balls-up from the trade minister, because he has not focused specifically on how to advance Australia's national interest and particularly our farmers, at a critical time, he's just bowed down to the interests of the Europeans rather than getting the best buck for Australians.

Journalist: Is that a united view within the Liberal Party, what you've just said?

Tim Wilson: It's an absolute united view that we should always be fighting for more of a better deal for Australian farmers and Australian industry. And we're still going, of course, through our proper parliamentary and Coalition processes, but we absolutely want a better deal. We don't want the trade minister selling out Australian industry so that he can move on with his political career.

Journalist: Do you think it's a tough environment right now politically for a government to make budget savings?

Tim Wilson: Well, you get elected to take responsibility, and this government has got elected and sold the Australian people a magic pudding of economics. What we need is a government that's going to take responsibility, stop its active inflation agenda which continues to spend, stoke, and then tax inflation so it can feed itself. That's why the Coalition has committed to a Tax Back Guarantee, which means that inflation will not secretly increase Australians' tax take. We want to make sure that we see that Australian households are backed in for their success.

Journalist: And what does the government need to do to improve its relationship with small business?

Tim Wilson: There’s so much. What the government needs to stop is torturing small business. The Albanese government constantly turns around to small business, adds regulation, adds taxation, and makes it harder for them to survive. We have record small business insolvencies and voluntary closures because small business doesn't have the economic environment it needs, isn’t contained costs, and continues to be outstripped by inflation. The government, to get on with small business, needs to reverse the past four years, their active inflation agenda, and constantly imposing higher costs on the Australian community, particularly small business.

Journalist: Just on Josh Frydenberg’s recent memoir, would you support Josh Frydenberg returning to Federal Parliament?

Tim Wilson: Of course I want good candidates in all seats, and if Josh Frydenberg wants to re-contest Kooyong, so be it. But we are going to make sure that is part of a team, so we can have a Taylor-led government to define Australia's future and to make sure that we can go on and defeat an awful Albanese government and their active inflation agenda.

Journalist: In his memoir he's clearly left the door open to a return to parliament. Has that been helpful or unhelpful for the Liberal Party this week?

Tim Wilson: We always want good candidates standing for seats to make sure we have a pathway to get ahead, to elect a Taylor-led government to define Australia's future and to defeat the Albanese government and its active inflation agenda.

Journalist: We’re just over a month out from the Victorian state election. How do you think Josh Frydenberg's memoir has impacted Jess Wilson? It's been reported this morning that she's filthy about Frydenberg's memoir. Is that understandable?

Tim Wilson: My focus is on making sure Victoria gets the Fresh Start it desperately needs under a Wilson-led Coalition government. We need Victorians to make a decisive choice away from this corrupt Labor government to a Coalition-led government that gives a Fresh Start to Victoria and gives us the confidence we desperately need so we can build a better future. Victoria is a great state. I love it. I've lived here my whole adult life, and what we need to make sure is that we have a government that reflects the honesty, the decency, and the generosity of the Victorian people, not a corrupt Labor government that continues to hand public money to organised crime.

Journalist: Is the Opposition's opposition to the government's Digital Duty of Care Bill because it's courting One Nation voters?

Tim Wilson: Our focus is on making sure that Australians are safe online, but we don't want backdoor pathways for censorship by the government. The government poisoned the well around this legislation by starting from a position of giving the minister extraordinary power around digital censorship, and there's a lot of work that needs to be done to rebuild trust.

[ENDS]