Wednesday, 5 November 2025

E&OE

Ali Moore: 

Tim Wilson is the Shadow Minister for Small Business, also the Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations and Employment. Tim, hello.

Tim Wilson MP: 

Hello, Ali.

Ali Moore: 

So what should the Liberals do with climate policy?

Tim Wilson MP: 

Well, I think what we need to do is develop policy that is our own, that we control, we're not the National Party-lite, we need a Liberal policy that reflects our values and speaking to the people we are fighting for, and for of course, the future of the country to build Australia's clean industrial future. I think it needs to have clear metrics, which is focused on how we get net zero price increases, how we get net zero outages and electricity grid, and of course that's the permission pathway and the social licence for the public to support emissions reduction at the same time. But more than anything, what we need to do is build out energy abundance so that we can get electricity prices down because that's so important to Australian households and industry.

Ali Moore: 

So what does Nationals-lite actually mean?

Tim Wilson MP: 

Well the National Party is the National Party, the Liberal Party is the Liberal Party. While we are in Coalition, we have our own identity, we represent cities, suburbs and rural and regional Australia. The National Party explicitly says they are there for regional Australia, that's their slogan. They're of course entitled to narrow their electoral base, whereas we're there to build the whole of the country and we have to reflect the full diversity of Australian opinion in how we're going to build out the future of this country.

Ali Moore: 

For you, does that mean for the Liberal Party it should be net zero by 2050?

Tim Wilson MP: 

What it means is we have to have a policy that is very clearly focused on how we reduce emissions and build out the social licence to reduce emissions.

Ali Moore: 

Sure, but does that mean net zero by 2050? 

Tim Wilson MP: 

We've given commitments in this in past, the fourth election I ran on the platform of net zero as a policy position. But what we need to do is make sure that we have a clear target that is focused on not just reducing emissions but price and reliability because one of the worst things that's happened under this government is they have trashed the social licence and public support for reducing emissions because they haven't been concerned about price, they haven't been concerned about reliability. Prices have gone up, reliability has gone up and despite everything, so have emissions. 

Ali Moore:

You talk about clear target and clear metrics, but they could be clear targets and metrics that are not net zero by 2050. So what do you have in mind?

Tim Wilson MP:

I haven't removed myself from the promises we gave to the electorate before the last election. That's why I say we need a Liberal policy that we can all focus on and drives the conversation forward about getting prices down, getting of course stability in the electricity grid, but making sure we get emissions down as part of that as well. And that's the conversation we're having and it's very important that we get it right because we need to go on and then build the clean industrial future for this country. So that we can have the industries and the jobs that are going to create the economic opportunity for the next generation of Australians.

Ali Moore:

There's a lot of people in your party, it seems, your colleagues, who want to dump net zero, who would like to see the Liberals follow the National Party.

Tim Wilson MP:

Well, of course, they're entitled to their view but-

Ali Moore:

So how do you get to a solution that keeps you all together and on the same page?

Tim Wilson MP:

Well, that is firstly why we talk, that's also why we listen, and we also have to address what are people's underlying concerns. As I said, the Labor Party has trashed the social licence for reducing emissions amongst the Australian community because they have paid no attention to keeping electricity prices low. No attention to getting reliability in electricity prices.

Ali Moore:

But the Liberal Party has offered nothing as a counter to what you would do to keep electricity prices low.

Tim Wilson MP: 

Well, I would actually contest that. We have been very clear in the lead up to last election in saying how we're going to build the future baseload energy of the country-

Ali Moore:

But you've dumped part of that policy. I mean, I'm assuming you have. I mean, it seems nuclear, your seven nuclear plants are no longer on the agenda.

Tim Wilson MP: 

Well, I certainly continue to support the lifting of the nuclear moratorium. That hasn't changed. I supported that in the lead-up to the election. I still support that today. In addition to that, we supported gas as an important part of the transition fuel. I remember for the 2022 election when the Labor Party said, "oh, you can't have gas. We can only have hydrogen." They've abandoned all that. The Victorian state government, same deal. They've abandon all their positions because they've realised that if you don't have the energy for Australian households. And costs continue to rise. The public support for reducing emissions declines. That's the reason why, despite talking renewables, the Victorian government and the New South Wales government have secret contracts to underwrite and keep coal plants open. They don't want to talk about it, but that's what they do and the ABC doesn't seem to want to ask them about it either.

Ali Moore: 

Oh, we've asked them about it. Don't worry about that. And they're not entirely secret. The cost of them is the thing that's secret. But Tim Wilson, what do you do as a moderate member of the party who has campaigned on net zero by 2050, has made it clear just in the last few minutes you have not walked away from that commitment? What do you do if your party does?

Tim Wilson MP: 

Well, firstly, I describe myself as a liberal, and that's the defining characteristic of my political worldview. And that's why I'm making it very clear how important we need to lead through this conversation.

Ali Moore: 

Sure, but I'm asking you, what do you do if your leader takes the party in a different direction?

Tim Wilson MP: 

You're dealing with hypotheticals. What I'm focused on right now is making sure that we're holding CFMEU corruption to account, making sure that we are building out the arguments for how we build out Australia's clean industrial future. And we absolutely need to lead through this conversation. It's so important to make sure that we're not just coming up with a National Party-lite policy, we need to have a big liberal policy that is going to drive down prices.

Ali Moore: 

Sure, and you've made that point repeatedly, but my question is what happens if you don't get the policy that you want?

Tim Wilson MP: 

And you're dealing with hypotheticals, and I'm going to focus on building out and winning this argument-

Ali Moore:

It's a pretty potential scenario, isn't it? You call it a hypothetical, but it's not like it's out of the realm of possibility.

Tim Wilson MP: 

Well, there are a lot of things that fit within that camp. I'm going to focus on building out the argument and winning over the case, because I think it's really important for the future of the Liberal Party, for the the future economy of Australia, for the feature of what I want to see for my state and my nation, that we have a party that is building out the case for a clean industrial future for this country. That's building out economic opportunity and hope. That's attracting the investment in energy and industry so that we can create the well-paying jobs for future generations so they can go on and do things like buy a home and retirement with security and support their families.

Ali Moore:

Tim Wilson, a final question. You mentioned there the CFMEU. You're trying to get an inquiry up in federal parliament into the CFMEU, is that correct?

Tim Wilson MP: 

We've actually made four attempts now at different points to get inquiries or ask questions of the Government. Yesterday, the Prime Minister shut down Question Time, just as we were about to ask him about CFMEU corruption and his links to tainted figures, as well as the Minister who continues to take advice from tainted figure. Today, they shut down debate in the House of Representatives when we made a further attempt at an inquiry. This Government does not want to answer questions about their tainted relationship between themselves and the CFMEU and particularly between Minister Rishworth who takes advice from tainted officials inside the CFMEU.

Ali Moore: 

Tim Wilson, I do hope that you will come back and answer questions when there is a policy position for the Liberal Party, which I'm assuming we're going to get in the next two to three weeks, is that right?

Tim Wilson MP: 

Well that's not a decision for me, that's a decision for the leader and this will be part of her pathway of leading through this conversation because, as I said yesterday, you can't run into a situation where you lose moral authority once you lose it, you won't get it back. Now more than ever, good people need to stand up and make the case for how to build a strong liberal policy that defines the future, not just of the party, but the future of the country.

Ali Moore: 

Tim Wilson, many thanks.

Tim Wilson MP:

Thank you.

Ali Moore: 

That's the Shadow Minister for Small Business and the Shadow Minster for Industrial Relations and Employment.

ENDS