Tuesday 12 May 2026

Transcript – Doorstop interview Mural Hall, Parliament House Canberra

Topics: Federal budget

E&OE....

Tim Wilson: Well, welcome to Budget Day. Budget Day 2026 has started with the Treasurer confirming the betrayal of the Australian people. The promises he took to the last election around not changing certain taxes are now completely and utterly broken. He's outlined to the Australian people the promises that he and the Prime Minister made fifty times over, in their own language, is about to be broken in the setup to the budget. It’s because they can’t manage their spending addiction, and they’re coming after the hip pockets of Australians because they can’t manage their finances.

This budget is setting Australia up for failure. It is focused on how it raids the future aspirations, hopes, and dreams of young Australians so this government, which can’t pull its belt in, can find a way to pull your belt in. Worse than that, the government is now leaking out details from their budget bunker, but they are lifting the ladder of opportunity up from young Australians so they can increase the volume of revenue. Meanwhile, they're protecting existing arrangements for those existing investors.

We need a government that is going to take responsibility for the nation’s finances, put forward a budget that gives young Australians hope and aspiration for the future, and more importantly, one that’s built on respect for Australians and their finances and that hard work pays off. That isn’t what we’re getting from the budget clearly today, based on the broken promises of the Treasurer that he has now confirmed. And he is not setting out a course of opportunity and growth for the future of Australians.

Every time this government runs out of money, they come after the hip pockets of Australians. Every time this government gets caught in a political bind, their only solution is to divide Australians. And that’s clearly what we’re seeing in the budget today, and it is clearly what the Treasurer is tenderizing the Australian people for to prepare for his budget speech tonight. Claire.

Claire Chandler: Thanks, Tim. Today’s debt equals tomorrow’s taxes. And if this government cannot get its spending under control, then it will be young Australians who will be paying for this into the future through higher taxes. We know that Jim Chalmers is sitting on a trillion-dollar debt bomb. And we also know that for the last four years, this government has been clearly incapable of getting government spending under control.

It is that government spending that has fueled inflation. It is that inflation that has resulted in higher interest rates. Australians are paying the price for this government’s failure to get its spending under control now, and if they can’t come up with a solution to start paying down the trillion-dollar debt bomb, then young Australians—those Australians my age and younger—are going to be paying for this in higher taxes in generations to come.

Journalist: [Inaudible] the Coalition has said that they've raised incentives for investors?

Tim Wilson: Until we see any of the final budget measures, we won't be making an announcement on our position. But it's very clear that with the approach the government is taking, it's very hard to support increased taxes when Australians are already doing it so tough. As Claire outlined, inflation is a problem that has been consistently stoked by this government since they've been elected.

"Doctor Denial," the Treasurer, has ignored the problems of inflation and Australian household budgets have been eaten into. We've seen a decline in living standards and we've seen real wages eaten away by Jim Chalmers' active inflation agenda. It's very hard to see, on any measure, how higher taxes on young Australians trying to get ahead, on families who are investing to secure their own future, or retirees who have simply backed themselves in, or the small business people and self-starters of this nation—how any of them are going to get ahead by taking more of their income from them, more of their wealth from them, simply because the Treasurer cannot manage the finances of this nation.

Journalist: Do you think the intergenerational inequity is a problem [inaudible]?

Tim Wilson: It's absolutely a challenge for young Australians to get ahead. The biggest tax young Australians pay is income tax. Every time the government has done anything on that, it's been wiped out by Jim Chalmers' active inflation agenda. The rules, as currently written, make sure that young Australians are pushed further behind and Jim Chalmers seems to have confirmed it tonight, where he is going to kneecap the pathway for young Australians to be able to work for their own future and to save.

Through our "Not the Tax" website—www.notthetax.com.au—we already have so many young Australians who are saving for a house deposit; they're investing their savings so they can bring the opportunity and the dream of homeownership forward. And instead, the Treasurer's answer is to whack a giant new tax on house deposits, and young Australians are seeing through this and they're seeing that this government is their enemy for getting ahead.

Journalist: What’s the Coalition’s plan for tackling that intergenerational debt?

Tim Wilson: Our focus is always on making sure that we grow the economy, we give pathways for young Australians to get ahead and where hard work pays off. And one of the problems is the government simply does not respect Australians. When you have a government that goes to an election, promises fifty times over in the red-hot fit of rage as the Prime Minister did towards journalists for daring to suggest that he would increase taxes on homes, on rentals, or on family savings, and now he has turned around and betrayed that trust. That isn't the basis for respect, respecting Australians and their pathway to get ahead. We will be focused on a pathway that is based on respect, transparency, honesty, and that living standards will improve.

Journalist: The Treasurer this morning said there's going to be difficult decisions made in this budget for the near and long-term. What do you believe they could be?

Tim Wilson: Well, the Treasurer likes to play "word salad" when it suits him. He focuses on how to make the case from his perspective, but it always comes back to one thing, which is how they're going to increase taxes on the Australian community. The Treasurer's only answer is higher taxes on the Australian community because he will not pull his belt in, and he turns around and pulls your belt in instead.

Journalist: How has the rising tide of populism and sort of the result from the weekend's by-election, how is that shaping the Coalition's response to this budget?

Tim Wilson: Our focus has always been on how young Australians get ahead, how hard work pays off, how Australians are respected, and most importantly, how they're in control of their lives. That's why we set out three budget tests on the 17th of April, with Senator Chandler behind me. And the tests are focused on: restoring living standards, restoring Australia's security, and restoring honest government. Because this government is dishonest; it has clearly broken election promises, it has clearly betrayed the Australian people, and the case for reform has to be built on respect and trust. Instead, the government's response has been to betray that trust.

Journalist: What could Jim Chalmers propose to help regional Australia in this budget?

Tim Wilson: Well, the Treasurer could start by respecting Australians and giving them more control over their lives and starting with a basis of honesty. And that's where the betrayal of trust of what we've seen in this Treasurer is so problematic. We set out three budget tests: one about how to restore Australians' living standards, and that's by making sure we have a growing economy—instead, he's feeding resentment and division. It's to focus on restoring Australia's security, and we restore Australia's security by investing in our resilience and our capacity over the long term. And the third test is restoring honest government. You will not build trust with the community to affect long-term change and build the future of the Australian economy if you break that trust.
Thank you very much.

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