Monday, 5 October 2026

Topics: polling; cost of living; inflation; interest rates; road user charge; credit card surcharges; ATO credit card ban.

E&OE……………………..

Luke Grant: I had been planning to speak to my next guest on my weekend show, but breaking news out of Newcastle prevented us from having him on. We had so much contact from people in the Wallsend area. It was remarkable how radio just so brilliantly, live at the time, is able to capture a story and get all the detail out there, and I asked him, I asked Tim Wilson to forgive me, which of course he did, and I knew I'd find time to get him on soon enough and that happens to be today, and that's a good thing. Tim Wilson, good morning.

Tim Wilson: Good morning, Luke. You don't need to apologise, but I think it means I get to congratulate you on the Roosters’ victory, if I'm not mistaken. You're a Roosters man, aren't you?

Luke Grant: Well done. This is why this man has to be the Treasurer of Australia, and I say to my listeners, remember that. Yes, that's right, Tim. Very, very big day. Very big day for us here, I can tell you. Some polling out today. Perhaps we start here. I mean, all the economic metrics are now really important. I think I saw climate change down to 13% and some people will see that as being really important. But all the all the mechanics of our economy and the government support there has completely collapsed if it's ever been anything, and it has been to be fair, something. But wherever you look and the most recent episode is, here you go, cheaper coffee. And that lasted about two hours until people realised, hang on a sec, it's gone up everywhere. So, the polling isn't splendid for the Coalition, but you are still a live option here and you're not going backwards, you're going the other way. But how does how does a government, how does the Prime Minister remain the preferred PM, mate? I don't get that.

Tim Wilson: Well, I don't think he's preferred Prime Minister in my household, and I'm sure he probably isn't a lot of your listeners' households. People are doing it tough right now. You know, we say that, but between what's happening with interest rates, every time you go to the supermarket, you put stuff in your trolley, and you end up paying more and you seem like you're getting less. What people need is clarity and hope that there's going to be a better way forward. Now, part of the problem is that people look at the government and they say, well, you know, if the poo hits the fan, let's put it that way, the Prime Minister might be in a position to bail people out. But all he's doing every time he gives people cost of living relief is he's actually just boosting the amount of inflation in the economy. That's why we've got a structural problem, that's why it's not going away. We actually need to stop their whole approach to economic management because they're actually making your life worse.

Luke Grant: So that they have they have this need to give people free stuff, and it's really hard, and you know this, to wind back the free stuff. But aren't we aren't we now at the exact time where, sadly, it gets the reality of the circumstance we find ourselves in. This is where we have to start to wind back the free stuff. We can't afford that stuff anymore. Surely, we're here now.

Tim Wilson: Well, the starting point is the government's got to pull in its belt, because what they're doing is running deficit budgets. Every time the government runs deficit budgets, they're borrowing from tomorrow to spend today. That's stoking inflation and that's why when you go to the supermarket, you might be buying the same amount, but you're paying more for it. So, the government's got to pull its belt in before it turns around to average Australians and says it's time for you to pull your belt in. So, yes, there needs to be prudence and responsibility, but that starts with the government, then of course households need to figure out how they're going to support themselves through what is going to be a challenging time.

Luke Grant: Can you grow the economy to such an extent, Tim, where you don't have to rein in your spending? Is that possible? You grow your way out of a mess like this?

Tim Wilson: It's technically possible, of course, but we need to do both. We need to pull in the belt, and we also need to get the Australian economy moving again. One of the big problems out of the last federal budget is they basically turned around to anybody who wanted to invest in the Australian economy, anybody who wanted to build a business here and say, don't bother, we're going to take half of it, and so this is where the under the current economic model, it's only going to compound the inflation problem we already have. We need businesses to be profitable, we need them to be productive, which means we're getting more output for the amount of time and effort and energy and capital we're putting in. But that is not a 5-minute job. It takes time to turn the economy around, but one of the things you can do is pull the built in straight away, just like households frankly are doing right now, and it doesn't matter who you are, you're going to the supermarket and you're basically buying the same and you're paying more, but it seems like you're getting less.

Luke Grant: And we have to we have to attract the enterprise, don't we? We have to get people that want to risk a quid to go out there and have a crack, and hopefully they make themselves successful. They play plenty of plenty of tax, they employed plenty of Australians, and it's a great outcome. But haven't we become, and I'm going back to Campbell Newman a bit here, but we've become a bit ‘can't do’ rather than ‘can do’, haven't we?

Tim Wilson: Yeah, I think we need to get, you know, the banks have this expression, which is ‘getting to yes’, which is how do they basically make decisions so that you can move things forward and people can do things like get a home loan. I think we need to get a ‘get to yes’ attitude to the economy, which is very focused on approving projects. You know, we've got to make sure we, you know, protect the environment, we've got to make sure we protect labour standards and working conditions. But the objective should be, how do we get to yes? Instead, we're ending up in a situation which is either it's easier to do nothing or say no. And that's not right. That requires regulation reform, and but it requires a mindset shift, and that requires a change of government.

Luke Grant: Yeah, I like that, get to yes. I want to get to the fuel excise. This has been, or the cutting of it, has been Coalition policy. In fact, you've come out with the idea that if it's above the price above $100USD for a barrel of crude, then the excise is halved, and that would give, I mean, goodness me, $3 a litre for diesel is just not what we do here, not what we can afford here. But again, this gets this gets me, Tim, if you're driving an EV, well done, you've made that decision. You might have made it on the back of government funded incentives if you'd got one of those novated leases or the like. How do we get more equality here so that everyone pays a bit?

Tim Wilson: Yeah, so there's discussions around a road user charge, which would equalise it a bit and turn around to EV users and say you got to pull your belt and pay for the roads, too. The big debate really at a government level is what does that money then go towards? People like me think it should go towards roads because EVs are nearly double the weight, and they have just as much of an impact on the roads as everyone else, whereas from the conversations in government, they seem to just want it to go towards EV chargers, and I don't think that's fair. I think you've got to contribute towards the roads until we see to see some sort of parity. Otherwise, it's just people driving petrol cars or diesel cars picking up the tabs for the road while EV drivers seem to be getting let off light.

Luke Grant: Yeah, and then, you know, you get the likely suspect say, ‘oh look at all these people buying electric vehicles.’ Well, what did you think would happen? I mean, you make it cheaper through the treatment of tax and then you make it more expensive to drive a petrol vehicle, and more people drive petrol vehicles. I think this is I think it's a no brainer that something needs to have been done, probably well before now, wouldn't you agree?

Tim Wilson: Well, I think it should have been done before, but like all these things, it comes down to a government and whether they're prepared to bite on them. I know there's a lot of conversations in Canberra about it and whether there's a way forward. But to get to get a solution, you need to actually have an honest conversation that does need to be led by the government so that they can be part of it. But in the meantime, they could be offering households relief. We've put forward, as you said, an excise relief package which says that over $100 for Brent crude US dollar a barrel for two weeks, then we give excise relief because it's not just the cost of drivers, it's increasingly going to be the cost of diesel into the food supply, and if we don't get prices at a manageable level, it will slowly increase the cost of food and other essential items.

Luke Grant: What do you make of the credit card surcharge changes? I had a listener ring me from rural New South Wales earlier, Tim, who said the price of coffee at his local cafe has gone up, but it's gone up for everyone. It's gone up for people using a credit card, so it's not cheaper. Albo's wrong, he's lying again. And it's even more expensive when you're paying cash because it's gone up for everyone. This is another catastrophic fail by government, isn't it?

Tim Wilson: Absolutely, it is, and the worst thing is they're turning around to small business and saying you got to wear the cost, but when small business wants to pay on their credit cards to the ATO, and a lot do for their various reasons, and in because it would require admitting that surcharging is a cost passed on, the government just banned credit card payments. This is outrageous double standards by the government, and you're seeing the same whether it's cafes, it's a big part of it because they do lots of small transactions, but you'll also have a problem where travel agents, as an example, or tradies, they can often have bills in the tens of thousands they charge customers. They chuck it on the credit card, and now they're being asked to absorb costs in the hundreds of dollars. I spoke to one on the weekend that said they’re going to be asked, as a small business, to absorb about $13,000 extra in costs, and they can't pass it on.

Luke Grant: Yeah. Gosh, is that outrageous. Hey, what's the feeling in the streets? You get around your electorate. You had one of those extraordinary victories at the last election when no one thought you could win, but you did. So, you get around and you talk to voters. What's the mood like there?

Tim Wilson: Well, people hate the government. That's not just in Goldstein, that's across the country, and particularly they've given up on Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers. But what they're actually looking for is hope, and that's, you know, our big task is we have to give people confidence and hope of a way forward that brings the country together, and what they want is to know that tomorrow can be better because at the moment, they're just seeing the data and they're living the consequences of an inflation agenda run by the government which is just destroying their living standards.

Luke Grant: Yeah. Keep at it, Tim. Good to chat, mate. All the best.

Tim Wilson: Thanks Luke, take care.

[ENDS]