Tuesday, 22 September 2026

Topics: Artificial intelligence; United Nations; Intergenerational Report; superannuation; productivity.

E&OE……………………..

Sally Sara: Tim Wilson, welcome back to Breakfast.

Tim Wilson: Thanks for having me, Sally.

Sally Sara: Before we get to the Intergenerational Report, the Prime Minister's joined a group of leaders predominantly from the world's middle powers calling for international safeguards on the development of artificial intelligence. Is that a wise move?

Tim Wilson: Well, we are always conscious of the importance of safety for artificial intelligence, and this technology is going to evolve. I'm quite open-minded about practical steps that are going to work to support AI to be used in a safe way, but it's the detail that counts, and at the moment, we have calls, not any details, so probably isn't appropriate to comment further.

Sally Sara: As the Federal Treasurer pointed out yesterday, the AI revolution will have the biggest economic transformation of our lifetime. Do you see it as an opportunity or a risk to the economy, predominantly?

Tim Wilson: Well, it comes down to how we harness it and utilise it. If we use AI as a pathway to create jobs and liberate jobs that can support economic growth, it's an opportunity. But if we simply let the AI technology wave pass us by where we don't control the technology or have any influence over the technology, if it's not supporting economic growth in creating new jobs and particularly backing small business, I'd see it as a missed opportunity.

Sally Sara: Let's go to the Intergenerational Report. The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says the government expects fertility rates to fall further and faster over the next 40 years. Does the Coalition think there are any specific policies that should be put in place to change that? Is it time for a return to the Peter Costello ‘one for mum, one for dad, one for the country’?

Tim Wilson: Well, we always of course encourage people to form families and have children, but whether or not just having a baby bonus, which is where that question is alluding, will actually solve the problem, I remain sceptical. The reality is with the cost of housing continuing to rise, there's a direct correlation between that and of course family formation, and part of the challenge is the government and the Labor Party continues to prioritize superannuation over home ownership, which means people are buying later and at a higher price, which means that Australian families are being knee-capped from the start.

Sally Sara: What do you mean?

Tim Wilson: Well, I think if you actually make sure that people can afford to buy their own home first, earlier and cheaper, it's better for family formation. Instead, the Labor Party has consistently tried to rig the rules to favour superannuation funds and the scale of investments they hold against young Australians buying a home earlier and cheaper.

Sally Sara: An aging population is expected to reshape the economy and put greater pressure on government spending. Given that challenge, what are your considerations as you finalise your migration policy?

Tim Wilson: The real focus has to be on how we're going to promote economic growth. But it has to be sustainable economic growth that backs in the economy and looks at Australians as being the driver, the engine of our economy. At the moment, what we have is migration to simply fill the holes because the government makes it harder for the economy to grow, harder for small business to get ahead, and their only solution is to impose more taxes on the existing Australian population and then pump more migration in. What we need is reform that's going to back in Australians to start their own businesses, to make it easier to employ Australians so we have more taxpayers, and of course, make sure that people are in a position to grow the economy, but new taxes doesn't help achieve that.

Sally Sara: You're listening to Radio National Breakfast. My guest is the Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson. You've criticised the report's long-term productivity growth assumption of 1.2 per cent. Why do you think that number is not on the mark?

Tim Wilson: Well, the Reserve Bank uses a number of 0.7 percent as the long-term rate of growth they're expecting for productivity, and the treasurer himself has previously said that a 30-year average, which is, quote, ‘rubbish’, in his words, he tried to use a 20-year average and now he's reversed it back to try and make the numbers look better, because if he doesn't, we know that public debt is going to double and a lot of the report conclusions would be substantially worse. He's trying to paint a rosier picture because of his policies, but it isn't necessarily anchored in reality.

Sally Sara: What sort of value do you see of these intergenerational reports when forecasting out by 40 years is difficult and we've seen them change from one iteration to the next?

Tim Wilson: Well, the consistent theme across the reports is that if we don't make our economy more productive, if we don't grow the economic pie, then Australians are going to be worse off. And if you look across the reports, there are rosy assumptions which haven't been realised. The Treasurer has continued on this strategy again. These reports initially were useful because they showed out to the future the challenges the country faces, but what it's increasingly showing is that the government doesn't have an answer to the problems, and they're not looking at how do we get to a more sustainable economic future, that grows the economy, and make sure that Australians are going to live better off rather than slowly slipping into a long-term decline and saddled by public debt.

Sally Sara: Tim Wilson, thank you for joining us.

[ENDS]