Monday, 1 June 2026

Transcript - Doorstop press gallery, Parliament House, Canberra

Topics: Labor's taxes, Federal budget, indexation, Liberal Party

E&OE...

Tim Wilson: The Albanese government's continued to show complete disregard for the Australian people as it tries to ram its budget new taxes through the Parliament. These toxic taxes will continue to punish small businesses all around Australia and the Prime Minister ignored the Australian people and their wishes at the election. He's now going to ignore the attitude of the Parliament and, of course, Australians are going to pay an extremely high price for Labor's toxic taxes. That's why we've committed to repealing them. But we need to build it in better future because so many Australians are in despair right now.

Journalist: Do you welcome that house prices are if not moderating, falling a little bit? Does that make it easier for young people?

Tim Wilson: The reason house prices are feeling an adjustment is because people aren't confident about their future. I'll never welcome a time where Australians feel less confident about their future. Australian households are doing it tough. There are all these people who own small businesses where the government is now coming to take nearly half their business. And so people aren't confident about the future. That isn't a good sign for the Australian economy. I want Australians to have hope and confidence for the future, for them to feel like there'll be a better tomorrow. And that needs to be achieved through policy that encourages Australians to get ahead, to back themselves and to build out their future.

Journalist: Jim Chalmers said that your budget promises have left a half a trillion dollar black hole. Is that true?

Tim Wilson: Well, the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have a legacy and a history now of deceiving the Australian people. So perhaps we'll just add this one onto the pile of that, shall we? If that's the case, they have a secret plan to increase taxes by half a trillion dollars. The Treasurer has a secret plan to increase taxes every step of the way, all the way to the next election. And so if that's his plan and that's the number he's claiming, he's now revealed his hand about how much he's going to chuck his hand into the back pocket of Australian moms and dads.

Journalist: By tying indexation to tax brackets, that will cost more than $200 billion dollars. Why not? How will that be funded?

Tim Wilson: Well, we've already outlined it won't cost that much. And we have outlined that we will be we're committed to doing that because every time taxes increase, income taxes increase because of indexation, it's the silent thief of Australian household wages. And so this is the problem that government has. By their claims and their statements, they're admitting that their intention is to be a silent thief of the pay packets of Australians.

Journalist: There's a new Redbridge poll out showing One Nation on the rise, the Coalition dropping. Is the Liberal Party at risk of becoming a minor party?

Tim Wilson: Our focus is to make sure that we are the party of government so that when Australians go to the polls, whenever it is in the next couple of years, that we will have a bold, compelling vision about how to build out the future of Australia. And most importantly, where Australians look to the future with confidence and hope. And so that's going to be our plan. That's our mission and everything else is a distraction.

Journalist: Why are more people going to One Nation?

Tim Wilson: Well, there are a lot of people who are in despairing at the state of how much this government keeps punching down, particularly small business owners. Australians are despairing that this government has no interest in the Australian people, betrays them at every point. We're led by a fake as a Prime Minister and people are looking for a sense of hope. Our job is to be that hope.

Journalist: Will the Coalition delay the NDIS legislation?

Tim Wilson: We're going to use maximum leverage to make sure that we get the best outcome for the Australian people on all measures. What we've seen is a government that has no issue deceiving and betraying the Australian community. And so we're going to hold them to account as best we can. But let's be frank about this. The arrogant Prime Minister we have has no regard for this Parliament or for the Australian people by his own track record. And so it's going to be a hard fight to make sure that there is a government forced to listen.

Journalist: Isn't today's polling what the Coalition's been asking for when they say, 'Let's work together to bring down Labor' and now Labor's no longer the party of favour? Isn't this what you've been asking?

Tim Wilson: Our focus is to make sure that we have a Coalition government led by a Liberal Party that has a defining vision for the country that encourages small businesses to get ahead for the self-starters of Australians to be successful. And every poll will come and go. The focus needs to be on how we're an alternative vision where Australians feel confident about their future because they're not feeling confident under the Albanese government and their new toxic taxes.

Journalist: Your leader's promised to tie migration to the number of houses being built. How much will that cost the economy that we're not bringing in as many migrants?

Tim Wilson: Well, there's we'll be releasing the final numbers closer to the election. But our hope is that state governments actually work with us to increase the number of houses that are being built so that young Australians are in a better position to be able to afford their own home. So our hope and optimism is that when you build more houses, you'll grow the economy and you'll improve the welfare, economic welfare of the Australian people. That's our focus.

Journalist: So you don't necessarily want to slash the number of migrants, you just want to So you're happy with the number of migrants as long as the number of houses are being built. So that might not be we might not actually see a net decrease in the number of migrants. Is that right?

Tim Wilson: On the current government's current budget numbers, they're going to overshoot migration by 90,000 people. So that is not a fair conclusion at all. Our focus on how we build up the volume of housing stock because the government consistently underperforms the number of the houses they build. They consistently overshoot the number of people who are coming into the country. And so as a consequence, they're completely out of whack. We simply want to make sure that Australians can have a home that they can afford a rent or they can afford to buy their own home. And, of course, that those who come into Australia also have that pathway to be able to afford rents as well.

[ENDS]