Monday, 11 May 2026

Transcript

Doorstop interview, Parliament House Canberra

Topics: Federal Budget, Farrer by-election

E&OE ....

Tim Wilson: Well, the government's budget is now in complete disarray. We have a series of broken promises by the Treasurer and the Prime Minister in the lead-up to this budget. The Prime Minister was red-hot with rage before the last election, saying fifty times over in his own words that he wasn't going to touch negative gearing, capital gains tax, or of course family trusts.

But he seems set to breach all of those promises tomorrow night. We have new taxes being proposed on homes, on rentals, on start-ups, on self-starters for Australians. And in the past few hours, we're now hearing that the government's intention is to break its promises and then break the rules they've set for themselves. It seems very clear that the Prime Minister is now coming and overruling the Treasurer because this budget is now in complete disarray. Because of its series of broken promises, Australians are seeing directly through what the government is putting forward, and particularly the broken promises and the betrayal of trust with Australians.

The Prime Minister, we know, enjoys humiliating his Treasurer, but for him to continue to have to eat so many humble pies while he is in the process of not even delivering his budget yet, shows that this budget is in disarray, and that the leaks out of the budget bunker from the government have revealed that they have no mandate. Australians have woken up to the Albanese government's new taxes on homes, on rentals, on shares, on small businesses, on start-ups. The Australian people have woken up to the new taxes on the self-starters of this nation.

So in the coming days, the government is going to have to be full and transparent about the deceit and betrayal they have put forward. The government in its announcement is going to have to be clear about what the rules are going to be and who is going to be hit, because it's extremely clear that this government's intention is to hit every single Australian, to tap into their wealth because they cannot control their spending addiction.

This government has been incessant, this government has been focused on stoking inflation, taxing the inflation, and now they're spending the inflation, and at every step they have taken no effort to be responsible. And when they're turning around to Australians and saying "pull your belt in," they're not doing the same. In fact, they're going and they're shoving their hand down the back of Australians' pockets.
There you go. Who's first?

Journalist: Changes that we're hearing for capital gains tax discount and negative gearing... sounding like there would be a one-year grace period. Would investors be satisfied with that?

Tim Wilson: Australians who have invested in their future and built for the future will not be happy with the government trying to back out of their broken promises by giving grace periods. The reality is that this is exactly the opposite of what the Treasurer has been saying. He's been going out and saying this is going to be a budget for young Australians; now he's locking in the benefits for one generation and harming young Australians. This government's budget process is in complete disarray because they have broken their word and Australians have woken up to the dishonesty at the heart of this government and its budget.

Journalist: The Liberals have long been calling for reduced red tape. Do you welcome half a billion this morning for faster approvals?

Tim Wilson: Well, I very much wait to see that any of this is actually going to be delivered. The government has been consistent in making big pronouncements and is yet to deliver. We of course always support less red tape. What we don't support is the government pronouncing and then not delivering. You know, the Treasurer himself has gone on consistently and said "we've saved $114 billion" in one breath, but in the next breath gone on and spent another $223 billion and fuelled inflation. So let's see the government actually deliver this rather than just announce it.

Journalist: How sure are you that the broken promise line will affect the government when it didn't take any skin off them with Stage 3 last term?

Tim Wilson: Well, I'm very confident that Australians have woken up to the Albanese government who have clearly said that they were not going to target and tax family savings, whether it's through negative gearing, capital gains tax, or trusts. There's a reason why the Treasurer is scrambling right now to fix his budget crisis. It's because the Prime Minister has clearly overruled him; it is clear that Australians have woken up to the Albanese government's agenda, and now the Prime Minister is reining his Treasurer in from his high-tax agenda.

Journalist: What do you mean by woken up? Are people talking to you? Where's... how are they waking up?

Tim Wilson: Well, we've clearly got a lot of stories just coming flooding into our website, notthetax.com.au, where we have Australians who are going to be impacted by these changes to taxes and how it's going to affect them. Only on Friday, we got a story from a young Australian who's worked hard, saved, and is... put their money into the market so they can go on and afford to buy their own home. And what they've come to realize is under Jim Chalmers' high-tax agenda, he's going to be pushed further away from owning his home rather than being pushed forward.

Australians who have saved for their own retirement security have woken up to the consequences of changes to home and housing taxes. Increasingly small business owners all around the country are realizing that high tax on capital gains and trust is directly targeting the small business owners of the country. We have record small business insolvencies in this country right now. Record small business insolvencies. And the response from the government is not to give them a helping hand, it's to punish them further, add more taxes, and they're coming forward and saying enough is enough.

We're seeing more and more people who are investing in the future growth of the Australian economy in start-up businesses who are publicly saying that this is a direct assault on the future economy of Australia. And this is always the same with the Albanese government: they take from the future to feed themselves today, because they have no plan for the future but they can't control their spending addiction.

Journalist: The outcome of the Farrer by-election over the weekend... was it a mistake to preference One Nation ahead of the independent?

Tim Wilson: Well, voters will vote as they see fit, and that's clearly what they've done in different ways as the data shows that. The focus is on how we make sure we get to 150 seats in the House of Representatives and the 76 seats in the Senate represented by Liberals. Because I fundamentally believe that this country's best interest is served by making sure there is total Liberal domination of the democratic institutions so we're defining the future of the country and growing the nation. Every other discussion is focused on other parties, and I'm not interested in that.

Journalist: Your colleagues earlier this morning saying any sort of coalition between Liberals, Nationals, and One Nation... they've just rejected it out of hand, saying it's a future hypothetical. Would you still call for some sort of coalition with One Nation in light of that?

Tim Wilson: I have never called... and just to be crystal clear, I have never, ever, ever, and never, ever, ever will make such a statement in favour of such an alliance. The reality is the leader of that party has already declared that she won't form a coalition with us, and I have no interest in forming a coalition with them.

Journalist: You talk about wake-up calls, surely the Farrer election is a wake-up call for the Liberal Party. If this is replicated, the coalition's going to be wiped out. What are you going to learn from it?

Tim Wilson: Well, the focus we have to be is fighting for the future economy of Australia and particularly for small businesses, self-starters, and those who want to back themselves to get ahead. And that is incredibly important for Liberal voters. They want to advance their interests, they want to get ahead, support themselves and their families and their communities, and we have to be crystal clear about that. And that is exactly what I have done and will continue to do because they're worth fighting for. The future of Australia is worth fighting for, and everything else is just following people down the paddock of despair.

Journalist: What do you make of One Nation saying they're confident they'll win over migrant votes in Western Sydney given their past comments? Is that true?

Tim Wilson: Look, what they boast about is up to them. Hubris is something that's clearly going to their head post the weekend, and they're going to go out and make whatever claims. The best way to make sure that we build a sustainable country that brings everybody together, that's built on respect where hard work pays off and Australians are in control of their own lives, is a Liberal government.

Journalist: Back to the question of preferencing One Nation in Farrer. The only path to government for the Liberals is through the cities, and it will need to win back some Teal seats as you did in the last election. Is there any chance the Liberal Party can win over these voters when they're preferencing One Nation? These voters have rejected that kind of conservatism, that social conservatism. How would they possibly vote for the Liberal Party if preferencing One Nation?

Tim Wilson: Well, we heard yesterday and only yesterday that One Nation is now parodying some policies of the Greens. The way that Liberals win and hold government is to make sure that we are defining the future of the country with a bold, confident policy agenda that seeks to enlarge and empower Australians, families, and communities as part of their pathway to get ahead. And that's not what we're getting from the government right now. The government is seeking to declare an assault on Australian families and small businesses because they can't control their spending addiction and their active inflation agenda.

Journalist: Do you think your constituents would be impressed that the Libs preference One Nation?

Tim Wilson: Well, I think my constituents are focused on how they're going to get ahead to make sure that they can have a pathway to advance their own interests, that of their communities and small businesses. I think what Australians want desperately now is a clarity in leadership that they're not getting from the government. And you know, there are a lot of negative messages from the government from the weekend's result as well, where people clearly want a change in the system; they don't think it's working for them, and the government is responsible for that system right now.

And their response is simply to turn around to add more taxes to sap out more initiative and effort from the Australian community, and that's where we must be focused in building a future Australian economy that enables Australians to get ahead where the hard work pays off, where they're respected, and more importantly that there's a sense of honesty in government.

Because right now, we have a government that's focused on how it seems to want to hand money to organized crime, fraud, and corruption. I've never seen a time in the history of the nation where the government is so clearly focused on taking the money of honest taxpayers and handing it to organized crime, and so many people just shrug their shoulders like it's normal. It is not normal that honest taxpayers' money is handed to organized crime, and the current government has been complicit. They have been funding fraud and corruption, and we will end it.

Journalist: But Tim, if Australia wants change as you just said in that statement there, how is it that the Libs haven't been beneficiaries of that change? You are the main opposition party. You couldn't even hold a seat that you previously held. The vote went backwards, the vote cratered. How is it that if you're saying Australians want change, why is it that the Australian people in Farrer are looking towards a far-right radical party rather than your party?

Tim Wilson: Well, at the moment people are faced with choices about how they bring about change and they're sending a message very clearly to the government. The government didn't even have the guts to turn up to the Farrer by-election to hear the message; instead, they cowardly shrank away in the hope that they could avoid it. Imagine what would have happened had they stood a candidate after they had just broken so many promises associated with tax and targeting the small businesses and farmers not just in Farrer but nationwide.

You know, we need... there's a lot of work to do and no one's pretending otherwise. And that's why we're going to put forward a bold, confident vision for the future of the country backed up with policy to back the self-starters of this nation, to back small business, to back families, and to back communities. And we have to get on with that.

Journalist: What's your message to Colin Boyce and others in the coalition who might be considering jumping ship for One Nation as a result of the weekend?

Tim Wilson: That's still speculation. The reality is the best pathway forward is a Liberal-led government to define the future of this country.

Journalist: The coalition's voter policy over the budget about high migration, high about the housing. What's the specific ratio of formula that will involve, like how many thousand homes built, how many migrants will be allowed?

Tim Wilson: Well, it would be inappropriate of me to bump the leader of the opposition's speech on Thursday night. What the coalition has been very clear about is to say that we need more housing supply in this country to build out the economic opportunity and the chances for first-home buyers, and that should be geared towards providing pathways for integration for new Australians so they can be socially integrated, economically integrated, culturally integrated, so they can be part of a successful nation.