Interview on ABC News, Afternoon Briefing 

Wednesday, 29 July 2026

Topics: Inflation, government spending, interest rates, house prices, ICAC inquiry, data centres, CFMEU, organised crime.

E&OE……………………..

Patricia Karvelas: Tim Wilson, welcome to the program.

Tim Wilson: Thank you for having me.

Patricia Karvelas: Inflation is easing. Do you concede the economy is at least heading in the right direction?

Tim Wilson: No. Underlying inflation persists, and that's because of government expenditure. Yesterday, the Reserve Bank Governor was asked explicitly about government expenditure and said it's directly driving demand. Until the government confronts its spending addiction, we're not actually going to get lower prices in supermarkets where Australian households are going and paying more and getting less. The reality is, yes, there's been an easing, but it hasn't solved the above-band inflation problem…

Patricia Karvelas: It's not solved, but it's going in the right direction. That's the question.

Tim Wilson: Well, what we've lost is the cushion that's been driven principally by international factors. The underlying domestic factors remain. That's why we have 3.6% underlying inflation and it's stayed steady. It started before Iran, it's continued during, and if Iran ends tomorrow, just as we had a pause, it didn't evaporate.

Patricia Karvelas: But economists expected it to be worse, so you know, you might consider it incremental, but it's certainly something that is more positive than what the expectation was, right?

Tim Wilson: Well, people were thinking it could be much, much worse, which was not going to be good, and now it's slightly worse, and suddenly we're celebrating this as a victory…

Patricia Karvelas: Slightly better.

Tim Wilson: Well, it's still above the target band of the Reserve Bank, which means persistent inflation puts upward pressure on interest rates. There's no disappearing of that risk, and Australians have been living that right throughout this year. Remember, the Treasurer himself said that we had turned the inflation corner. He's right, we did turn the inflation corner, but it was in the wrong direction.

Patricia Karvelas: Okay, so the RBA is less likely, of course, now, it seems, to raise interest rates.

Tim Wilson: I'd be cautious about predicting that.

Patricia Karvelas: I'm not predicting it. It's less likely according to experts. You don't see it that way?

Tim Wilson: Well, I think we need to be cautious because the key driver of inflation that they look at is underlying inflation, and that remains stable. We saw the employment data last week, which highlighted the aggregate demand issues that are confronted. So, the experts got it wrong on the data today. I'd be cautious about it. Of course, I want to see lower inflation and lower interest rates, but we shouldn't be so optimistic off the back of this data.

Patricia Karvelas: Isn't the reason house prices are sort of ticking down because ultimately interest rates have been high? Isn't that the main reason?

Tim Wilson: No, there's the issue of confidence in the Australian economy, where Australians are looking, particularly post the budget, about the trajectory and where they have confidence to go and invest and build out the future of the Australian economy. Now, interest rates have an impact on that, too. I'm not arguing that. There are lots of different factors, but we've seen a very sharp decline in confidence in the past six months, and particularly since the federal budget, when we need—and we have record low consumer confidence, record low small business confidence, and that's not good for a prosperous future Australian economy.

Patricia Karvelas: Do you agree with your colleague Andrew Bragg that house prices should go down?

Tim Wilson: Well, we want housing to be affordable. I use the example often in my electorate of Goldstein, in a suburb called Glen Huntly. Before last year, you were able to buy a first home, often in the high 2s. Now, you'd be struggling to get one in the medium 3s. A first home—one bedroom, one car park. What we've seen is this, as a consequence of the government's 5% home deposit scheme, a massive uplift in the cost of the first home. I don't consider that to be a good outcome. What I want is first-time buyers to be able to get into the market because that's the best pathway for them to be able to then go on and get a family home as they need it.

Patricia Karvelas: But those first times, those prices are now moderating, right?

Tim Wilson: No, they're going in the wrong direction. This is what the data clearly shows. The average price has been declining modestly, but what we've seen is an uplift in the first home buyers as a direct consequence of the government scheme. The government doesn't understand the consequences of the policies they've introduced. It's made it harder for young Australians to buy their first home, no matter how much they try and spin it.

Patricia Karvelas: Okay, but house prices are generally going down, which is a fact. Yes?

Tim Wilson: Well, there are multitudes of parts to the housing market. There's a top end of the market that's having its own price effect, there's the median house price that's having an effect. What we're seeing at the first homeownership level, which is the critical level to make sure that young Australians can buy their first home and then go on and build out their wealth for the future of themselves and their families, has been going up.

Patricia Karvelas: Just on a couple of other issues, the fuel excise, obviously, is coming off. The Treasurer's all but confirmed it. That's it. The cut to the fuel excise, I should be clear. So, it's going to be restored to its former glory. And you've kind of backed that in. Do you think that's the right strategy?

Tim Wilson: Well, we're watching international events. That was the basis on which the government made its initial decision, off the recommendation of the opposition. The key difference was, when we said cut fuel excise, we said it should have inflation offsets so it doesn't contribute to the inflation problem that Australians are experiencing. The government chose not to do that, and I think if they're going to reintroduce it based off international events, we need to have inflation offsets.

Patricia Karvelas: Yeah, they're not going to reintroduce it, that's the point, though, because it's going back to what it was. So, motorists will have higher prices for fuel, right, inevitably? Is that okay?

Tim Wilson: People will pay more tax as a consequence…

Patricia Karvelas: People will pay more for putting their petrol in, right, like in crude terms?

Tim Wilson: Yes.

Patricia Karvelas: Is that okay?

Tim Wilson: Well, of course, everybody wants to pay lower taxes…

Patricia Karvelas: People want to pay—when they go and pay with their credit card, often, they want it to be lower. Why isn't the opposition calling for it to be extended?

Tim Wilson: Well, because we need to make rational decisions. We made the case for a fuel excise cut off the back of price spikes that were driven by international events outside of our control. Now there's been pauses, starts, ends. I think we have to keep a watching brief on fuel prices before we make a decision, because at the end of the day, you know, government still needs some revenue, and we need to make sure we've also got flexibility that if we do see another price spike, there's a pathway for relief.

Patricia Karvelas: Just a couple of other issues. The Northern Territory and Queensland governments have rejected mandatory green energy standards for data centres. Do you support their opposition to the government's proposed national standards?

Tim Wilson: It makes complete logical sense. I mean, we need to make sure that data centres have access to energy. It really doesn't matter what the makeup of the electron is, they need access to energy. This government has consistently failed on energy policy, because despite talking all green, the Prime Minister is off in the West talking about building new oil refineries. What we need is investment to build out energy supply so that Australians can have cheaper electricity prices.

Patricia Karvelas: Yeah, I get that's the broader issue, but why not demand of these data centres that they have renewable energy to fuel them?

Tim Wilson: Well, because it may not be the best pathway for the volume of energy they need, and this is one of the reasons we should lift the nuclear moratorium, because we actually need more baseload energy into the system. I don't think that's really shocking to anybody. The government's trying to use other policy levers to drive their policy objective, rather than actually how are we going to build the future industrial capacity of our nation.

Patricia Karvelas: Do you care if data centres increase emissions?

Tim Wilson: Well, I'm concerned about obviously emissions overall, but I'm also concerned about price, reliability, and making sure that we have the energy supply that Australians need. And it's not just for data centres, it's for all Australian industry, because if we don't have Australian industry, we don't have Australian jobs.

Patricia Karvelas: Your opposite number, Jim Chalmers, says that Angus Taylor, the opposition leader, has questions to answer over the mention in New South Wales ICAC hearings about being asked to contribute, you know, write a check essentially, to the inquiry they're looking at, in terms of this grouping. It's a broader inquiry, but do you think Angus Taylor does have to answer the broader questions about whether he was asked, whether he considered it, all of it?

Tim Wilson: Well, he's already answered the critical question...

Patricia Karvelas: No, he's answered the one bit, which is he didn't write a check, but we don't know anything else about his dealings.

Tim Wilson: Well, that's what I was going to say in my answer. He's already answered the critical question. And of course, this is a matter, I'm not going to comment on ICAC matters, but the key thing is there are other questions that need to be answered. Why did the federal government give public money, taxpayers' money, to projects in Victoria that they knew were facilitated in organized crime? I remember last time I was on this program, Patricia, I specifically said I think we should talk about CFMEU corruption and public money going towards organized crime, and now it's the subject of a Royal Commission but unfortunately I wasn't asked about last time I was on the program.

Patricia Karvelas: That was very sneaky for you to say it that way. Maybe I had other things to talk to you about. We'll have to go through..

Tim Wilson: That's true, but I think talking about CFMMEU corruption, its link to…

Patricia Karvelas: Well, let me ask you this then, because it's the perfect segue. In fact, it's right here, I've written CFMEU. Do you want a national Royal Commission?

Tim Wilson: I've said consistently I think Labor should have a national Royal Commission set up by the government, because we know that they have provided public money to the Victorian government on projects they know have been administered by the CFMEU and gone to organized crime. Now it's up to the government to decide whether they're going to do that. We also know we've got a problem in Queensland with CFMEU corruption, we've got a problem in the ACT with CFMEU corruption, we've got a problem in New South Wales with CFMEU corruption, and now we even have a Royal Commission in Victoria because, finally, there has been an acknowledgement that public money has found its way into the hands of organized crime through the CFMEU Labor cartel.

Patricia Karvelas: Yeah, there are serious allegations. So just to be clear, if the Coalition were to be elected at the next election—

Tim Wilson: We want this done. I want to see the government do this now.

Patricia Karvelas: They're not about to announce a federal Royal Commission into the CFMEU.

Tim Wilson: How do you know that? Have you asked them?

Patricia Karvelas: I'm asking you, specifically, is it your view that if you were to be elected—and I know that's a big, steep hill to climb—that there would be a national Royal Commission?

Tim Wilson: Well, I think we'll wait and see where the situation is when we come to government. But I do think that the federal government—and I think you should put it to the federal government—whether they're going to have a federal Royal Commission, because we know there have been public projects where money has gone to organized crime through the CFMEU Labor cartel, knowing that the Prime Minister and the government have provided public money to those projects.

Patricia Karvelas: Okay, but if it's important, why not say you'd have one?

Tim Wilson: Well, because firstly, we have to wait to see where we are when we're at the point of government. We're currently in opposition, unfortunately. And of course, we will continue to monitor the situation very closely.

Patricia Karvelas: Okay, all right. So you're saying it depends how a state one would play out.

Tim Wilson: Well, I'm hoping the federal government is going to introduce its own Royal Commission into why there has been…

Patricia Karvelas: Well, would you have two running at the same time? Because there's about to be a state one that Labor state government of Victoria is going to start.

Tim Wilson: But it's all interconnected, and it all goes through the patronage network of the Labor Party. We know that, and we've had public money finding its way into the hands of organized crime. And I also want to see how the Victorian one actually plays out. I'm deeply suspicious that it's actually going to get to the rot at the bottom. Look at what happened yesterday. The Victorian Premier was removed not because there was a view that there was a better replacement, it was because the replacement had the view, if we run a Royal Commission as Labor, we will be able to contain the damage done to our party from a Royal Commission into the CFMEU.

Patricia Karvelas: That's not the reason he cited, to be fair. He said that he understands that there's public need for it. It wasn't, he didn't talk about that.

Tim Wilson: Well, that's very much the active discussion within the Labor Party, that there has been a way to contain the damage from a Royal Commission is by them calling it, and not leaving it to a change of government. I think it highlights actually just how deeply interconnected the issues are. And as I said, you've got this problem now across a lot of the country where the CFMEU Labor cartel has in some way, shape, or form been extracting money from the public and giving it to organized crime or other interests.

Patricia Karvelas: Thank you for coming in.

Tim Wilson: Thank you.

[ENDS]