Wednesday, 28 October 2026

Topics: tax legislation; spending; inflation; interest rates; private health insurance.

E&OE……………………..

Tim Webster: Well, we lined up a chat with our Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson, and it's fortuitous that we have, because I've seen a post from him that says, "So much for a nicer Parliament. Just before midnight, we were advised the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is introducing another tax bill today that they intend to ram through the Parliament." Well, there's a few things to talk to our Shadow Treasurer about, Tim Wilson. He's on the line. Good morning, mate.

Tim Wilson: Good morning, Tim.

Tim Webster: Lovely to talk to you. So, you're going to have to advise me and the listeners, what in God's name is the Treasury Laws Amendment Tax Reform Number 4? What's that?

Tim Wilson: Well, it's a bill that continues to implement the taxes Australians didn't vote for at the last election around capital gains and innovative companies, as well as the research and development grant. The normal process is the Treasurer gives us the heads-up when things are coming through so we can talk through the issues, and he just rammed it through late on the notice paper on Monday night. And now, of course, it's gone to the Parliament, but they've delayed it after we kicked up a fuss.

Tim Webster: Now, look, you've made this—I'm going to say, is it almost an ambit claim to the money that you want to save? So $31 billion, all of the climate change nonsense, housing, and a whole lot more. Now, you could telegraph from Broken Hill, couldn't you, that they're going to accuse you of not costing it properly? But as you say, is it just a thought, an original ambit claim of where you'd like to save money?

Tim Wilson: No, we've actually got it costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office, so it's not ambit, it's substantial, and that's why there's no criticism of it. In the end, it comes down to priorities, Tim. Do we want a country that's focused on lowering inflation and getting costs under control, taking pressure off mortgages, and particularly the cost at supermarkets where Australians are paying more and getting less? Or do we want to just live with higher inflation? We want lower inflation to back Australians.

Tim Webster: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I'll just tell the listeners later, but you can probably tell us now, I just had a quick look—and Labor governments do this every time they get in—at the amount of money they've spent on the public service, the bureaucracy, and it's just a staggering amount of money, and adding, what is it, half a dozen public servants almost a day? And it's one of the things they always do, and it costs us a bomb.

Tim Wilson: Yes, 28 public servants a day since the government's been elected in 2022. That's a lot. And so, the problem at the end of the day is we have a choice: do we want a strong Canberra, or do we want strong communities, and do we want sustainable communities? Labor always picks a strong Canberra because it empowers them and then enables them to impose their will on the nation. Our focus is on how we back Australians, families, communities, and particularly small businesses, because they're the engine room of the economy, and they're the basis on which we build our nation's success.

Tim Webster: What about the first home buyers scheme? I mean, it sounds great in principle to get young people into a home, and they were trumpeting that in the Parliament—I for my sins—I do watch Question Time—and they were banging on about that in the Parliament. But, in essence, it's a good idea to try and get young people into a home, but has it backfired or it's just not done what they wanted it to do?

Tim Wilson: Well, there are lots of schemes focused on trying to get young Australians into a home. The most important thing for a young Australian to be able to get a home is to be able to save for a deposit and then be able to finance the debt. What this government has done is increase the price of first homes, which is the exact opposite of what you should be trying to do. They're kneecapping young Australians who are saving for their first home deposit by increasing the taxes on those savings, particularly through their capital gains tax changes. And now they're encouraging Australians to buy in an inflated market, which means that, and data is very clearly showing this, first home buyers are the ones now most likely to be in negative equity, which means they're paying more for an asset that's worth less.

Tim Webster: Yeah. Inflation number comes out today. Any predictions?

Tim Wilson: The headline inflation rate will be up, but the real problem is what's called the underlying inflation rate, or the core inflation rate. And that's been above the target since July of last year. That's seven months before a single bomb was dropped on Tehran. That's the one the Reserve Bank makes the decision about whether to increase interest rates or not. And that's what we're most worried about because since July last year, that's been too high, and it's stayed too high whether or not Iran has been on or off as a conflict, because it's domestic spending from government that's driving it.

Tim Webster: Yeah. I think I noticed, we were looking around our stories today, that there's only about 20 days of diesel in the system at the moment. And I drive down the Pacific Highway here, and diesel's still very close to three bucks a litre. Now, that flows on to everything. We can see it ourselves at the supermarket or the petrol bowser, of course, and the cost of living, it flows on to everything, what farmers use with their machinery. So diesel, the price of diesel in this country is one of the issues. Are we ever going to get to the stage, Tim, where—and my listeners talk to me about this all the time—where we can drill for oil and just find some way to manufacture the stuff here, refine it here, instead of bloody importing it? But that goes back that many years, and I know it's something you can't fix tomorrow afternoon at 4 o'clock. But can we go towards fixing it?

Tim Wilson: So, the short answer is yes, but what we need to do is deal with that short-term problem, which could be a bigger, longer-term problem, but a short-term problem about making sure that we have sufficient supply here, then rebuilding our refining capacity. But to do so, you need the oil to be going through and being produced. And traditionally, that's been very expensive in Australia because of where it's located. And so, the economics of it becomes more viable when fuel prices go up. The question is whether they're going to stay there. We have to be a sovereign nation that works with countries to make sure we have secure supply, as well as what we can do by ourselves, but everything comes with a cost, and it's about how you make those important decisions. It's one of the reasons why getting the budget under control is so important, because if you're not focused on those essential infrastructure pieces because you're wasting money or feeding corruption, then you can't secure the nation.

Tim Webster: Yeah, as a general point, I mean, this country is so rich in just about everything—resources, agriculture, we're just such a wealthy country. But we seem to be blowing it in so many ways. I mean, this ridiculous proposition that any coal that we sell overseas, we've got to pay the penalty for the emissions overseas. I mean, that's just so dumb, it just makes no sense at all. So, there's so many things that don't make any sense for a country as wealthy as this. I mean, people going to Foodbank, and you say as an overall thing, why are we in this position of putting people under that much pressure?

Tim Wilson: At the end of the day, it's because governments are prioritising their interests and trying to impose control and conformity on the Australian people, not because we're actually building the strength of the nation from families, communities, and small business up. And that's the problem when you get governments that come in like this Labor government. They think they know best, they put their hand in your pocket, they take what they think they can grab, and then they try and impose outcomes. It always ends up being more expensive, it always delivers shortages, and it always builds a culture of dependence. What we need to do is build a culture of independence, where Australians are proud of who they are, hard work pays off, Australians are in control of their lives, and they feel there's a basic sense of respect. That's the basis where we can go forward together as a united country.

Tim Webster: Yeah, before I leave you, I'm going to pick on one, it's only one, but my listeners know how distressed I am about it, such a mean-spirited thing to do, to take the private health insurance rebate away from over-65s. It's just a mean-spirited cash grab, and I can't believe the party that's supposed to be the true believers and the party of the battlers have got the—I was just about to use a rude word then—have got the temerity, let's say, to do it.

Tim Wilson: Feel free to use a rude word, Tim. The real problem is they just want everybody to be reliant on the public system. This is complete false economy stuff. People expend most of their healthcare expenditure towards the latter stages of their life because they're managing multiple conditions, they need access to medicines to manage them, they have multiple ones at the same time. If you take private health insurance off older Australians, what it leads to is higher costs on the public system. This is a short-term cash grab by the government because they can't manage the budget, and that's why they're coming after older Australians.

Tim Webster: Good to talk to you. Thanks for your time.

Tim Wilson: Thanks, Tim.

[ENDS]