Tuesday, 29 September 2026

Topics: inflation; interest rates; artificial intelligence; data centres; productivity; road user charges.

E&OE……………………..

Spence Denny: Tim Wilson, Shadow Treasurer, good morning to you.

Tim Wilson: Good morning, Spence and Sonya.

Spence Denny: You say inflation is the measure that drives interest rates at the moment, and given that fuel prices are driving up prices, is inflation the right measure? Because it is definitely, when it comes to putting interest rates to fix inflation, a blunt control measure, and there's a lot of talk around the need for tax reform. Have you got the courage to maybe put some form of thought to tax reform as a way of evening out the economy?

Tim Wilson: Well, there is so much in that question. Inflation is the metric, underlying inflation is the metric the Reserve Bank uses to decide interest rates. What we know is that underlying inflation has been a constant problem under this government and over the past 12 months. That's why we're looking currently at a fourth interest rate rise this year. Tax and tax reform is essential with regulation reform to make the economy more productive so that we actually stop the current economic model of the government. The current economic model of the Albanese government is that they spend taxpayers’ money to hide the fact that there isn't the investment we need in the economy to grow the economy, and as a consequence, we get inflation, therefore we get interest rate rises and higher prices at the supermarket, while people get less in their trolley.

Sonya Feldhoff: Shadow Treasurer, yesterday we heard from the Treasurer himself, Jim Chalmers, and his Finance Minister, Katy Gallagher, that we've got a $6 billion better bottom line to our budget. So, doesn't that suggest they're doing something right?

Tim Wilson: Not at all, because, firstly, a lot of their numbers have been consistently very rubbery. It's come as a consequence of tax on people's retirement savings, as well as investors. Those are people who are investing in the future growth of the economy and job creation, sustainable job creation. Like everything, this government always looks at how it's going to hit Australians, how it's going to take from the future to feed today, and that's why we have a consistent and persistent inflation problem, which means that interest rates, sadly, are set to increase, and it may not be the last increase. Some banks are projecting another two in the next nine or so months. And that's why people will pay higher interest rates and get less in their trolley at the supermarket but will pay more.

Sonya Feldhoff: You mentioned the word growth there. Isn't growth the problem here? Growth and productivity in terms of our economy and inflation?

Tim Wilson: Absolutely, the absence of economic growth is a huge problem. Because what we've got at the moment is inflation outstripping wages. So, every time you get a wage increase, inflation is moving faster and taking it away. That's one of the reasons why we've made a commitment to a Tax Back Guarantee where if inflation outstrips wages, you get of course some of that return, because we see this as a central problem. The strength of this country doesn't come from Canberra, it comes from strong families, strong communities, and strong small businesses, and the Albanese economic model breaks families, breaks small businesses, and is breaking communities.

Spence Denny: We are in an interesting global economic time, and many countries are experiencing something similar with the fact that we have this war that none of us completely understand in the Middle East at the moment, which is pushing prices of petrol up. You say that part of your policy is if the price per barrel goes above $100, that Liberal policy is that you would reduce the excise. Where do you see you'd be then generating revenue to fix the roads, which are in terrible condition at the moment, if you reduce the excise?

Tim Wilson: Well, we've already said we'll take the revenue from our announcement on tobacco excise. Currently, we have illicit tobacco replacing legal tobacco. Our promise to cut it by 80%, the excise on legal tobacco, would knock out the organised crime gangs and get revenue about $2 billion a year back into the ATO's coffers. It's a reality when you replace illicit tobacco with legal tobacco, you end up getting more tax revenue so that you can support Australian motorists.

Sonya Feldhoff: So, what are you cutting? I mean, if the government's spending too much, what are you going to cut to change that?

Tim Wilson: We've already said our focus is on getting rid of excessive bureaucracy around net zero bureaucracy, which is not cutting emissions, housing bureaucracy, which is not building homes.

Sonya Feldhoff: So what, you're not going to build homes?

Tim Wilson: The government doesn't build homes, bureaucrats don't build homes, builders build homes, we will back builders, not bureaucrats on housing, and when it comes to big schemes like the National Disability Insurance Scheme, we'll make sure there's integrity so that doesn't continue to be profited from by organised crime…

Sonya Feldhoff: But aren't you already blocking measures on the NDIS? The ones the government is trying to introduce?

Tim Wilson: They've passed through the Parliament. The government hasn't gone on and then implemented them to their full. We've got to stop the organised crime, the fraud and the corruption in the NDIS because we can't have some of the most vulnerable people in Australia taken advantage of by organised crime. We can't have some of the most vulnerable people in Australia losing out because this government can't manage a program properly.

Sonya Feldhoff: But isn't the government doing something about that? That's one of the tenets of their changes to the NDIS, to try and abolish it.

Tim Wilson: Under their current model, they still tolerate organised crime and fraud in the NDIS. I'm sorry, I just think it's completely unacceptable that taxpayers' money from honest taxpayers and honest work is going to finance organised crime. We've seen exactly the same thing in the Big Build project in Victoria. It's known that public money has ended up in the hands of the CFMEU-Labor cartel to organised crime, and the federal government's solution is to turn around and cut a cheque and continue to feed it. This is not acceptable.

Spence Denny: You’re listening to 891 ABC Adelaide where we're speaking with the Shadow Treasurer in Tim Wilson. I think it's worth noting we did invite Jim Chalmers, the federal treasurer, to appear on the show. We are yet to hear back from his team on that request. Would you have the courage to introduce some way in which those people who drive electric cars might contribute to road maintenance?

Tim Wilson: Well, that's a conversation for the current government at the moment, but, you know, I'm open-minded about any pathway to address an equalisation or stability around road user charges, but at the moment the government has not come forward with any proposal to do so. If they don't, of course, we'll take positions to the next election on a whole manner of things. What we need to do is make sure that we have a cutback on excessive government spending, because you cannot have Australian households being asked to pull their belt in when the Australian government won't do it.

Sonya Feldhoff: Okay, Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson is the man you're listening to here on 891 ABC Adelaide. Tim Wilson, what role do you think productivity has in reducing inflation?

Tim Wilson: Well, productivity is essential in improving output from the Australian economy, because if you actually get growth faster than inflation, you'll actually get an improvement in people's wages and lifting of living standards. Because we have no, and in fact, negative productivity under this government, we have wages being outstripped by inflation, interest rates rising, and when you go to the supermarket, you pay more and you get less in your trolley.

Sonya Feldhoff: So, do you agree that productivity will be most benefited by an increased reliance on AI?

Tim Wilson: It’s a proposition that AI can have an input and a benefit to productivity, but it's highly speculative, it hasn't been realised yet, and for the government to turn around and bank all of its buck on AI as the pathway for productivity, fundamentally understands we need private investment to grow the economy, we need industrial relations reform that backs people to employ Australians, and we need to make sure that we get better outcomes.

Sonya Feldhoff: Do you support data centres, though?

Tim Wilson: AI and data centres are actually correlated, but they're not automatically the same, and of course, we have investment in data centres…

Sonya Feldhoff: Ok, but do you support data centres?

Tim Wilson: I'm not really sure where that…

Sonya Feldhoff: Well, because I'm going to say because Michele Bullock has already come out and said, if you support data centres, she's already said that is inflationary and yet that is one of the keys to increase productivity.

Tim Wilson: Investment is critical. Data centres is one piece of infrastructure, lots of different pieces of infrastructure contribute towards productivity and growing the economy. We need to take the community with us in terms of building new infrastructure. We need to make sure that AI is working for Australia's national interest…

Sonya Feldhoff: So what's a better focus than data centres then that's not inflationary?

Tim Wilson: Well, the better focus is actually getting investment to grow the economy. At the moment, the inflationary impact of data centres is because you get a very concentrated amount of investment, we're not getting the economic returns on the investment. That's why this is the problem with the failure of the entire Albanese economic model. The model is focused on how it stokes inflation, you don't get economic growth, it continues to spend public money, and that's why interest rates will go up, and people go to the supermarket and they pay more and they get less in their trolley.

Sonya Feldhoff: Tim Wilson, thank you for your time. He is the Shadow Treasurer here in Australia here on 891 ABC Adelaide.

[ENDS]