Monday, 9 November 2026

Topics: inflation; interest rates; opinion polls; small business; the Coalition’s Tax Back Guarantee; Labor caucus dysfunction; ATO.

E&OE……………………..

Ellen Fanning: There are signs Australians are turning back to the federal Coalition, according to opinion polls out today, while One Nation remains the most popular political party nationally, commanding 28% of the primary vote, according to today's Australian Financial Review RedBridge poll. Labor is down two points to 26%, a record low for this poll. The Greens are up two points to 13%. But the Coalition vote is surging up four points to 25%. But the biggest news from the poll is the trust deficit. Just one in five voters say they trust Anthony Albanese, with 22% saying they've lost trust in him over just the past month. Despite that, he remains the preferred PM with almost twice the support of the opposition leader Angus Taylor.

Ellen Fanning: The Shadow Treasurer is Tim Wilson. Thank you so much for joining us, Tim Wilson. And I'm sorry I got the time wrong. I am innumerate, so it's lucky you're the Shadow Treasurer and I'm not. You called an hour early and that was my fault, so please don't shout at anyone in your office. All right, what are these polls telling us, Tim? It's the economy, right?

Tim Wilson: It's always the economy, Ellen, and that's the challenge. At the moment, Australians are struggling to keep their head above financial water. They're going to the supermarket, they're paying more and they're getting less. And of course, if you've got a mortgage, you're experiencing the consequences of inflation and rising interest rates. And what I think Australians are looking desperately for is hope for change, but of course that won't happen until we have an election and until there's a change of government that doesn't have the same spending addiction as the Albanese government.

Ellen Fanning: I think it's fair to say, and the opinion polls reflect this, that to many Queenslanders, it's felt like the Opposition has been missing in action since the landslide win to Labor at the last federal election. Does today's opinion poll, Tim, reckon it's worth everybody on your side trying a bit harder to present yourselves as a viable alternative government?

Tim Wilson: Well, Ellen, no one would ever accuse me of being a shy, retiring flower. But I do think you're not fighting for us, we're fighting for the future of the country so that the next generation of Australians can live a better life than the one that we've inherited. The task is we're fighting for the soul of the country and the future of the country, so we should always be fighting hard because a lot's at stake, and unfortunately, because of how this government has come to power, they promised they wouldn't introduce a whole suite of new taxes, particularly on small business, they've broken that pledge. That's why you see in the poll today, so few Australians trust the Prime Minister. But we have to then offer people a clear alternative so that they can look to the future with hope.

Ellen Fanning: You say it's always the economy, that's the first thing you said to me this afternoon, Tim Wilson, Shadow Treasurer, it's always the economy, and yet there's been a perception, it's coming through on the text line, that the federal Coalition has gone chasing Pauline Hanson on issues like outlawing flag burning, outlawing the vandalising of war memorials, railing against anti-boy ideology, that sort of thing. Is it time for a laser-like focus on households, the financial pressure on households?

Tim Wilson: I can assure you that there has been a laser-like focus on households and small businesses because they're the economic hope in communities. But there are other issues that come up from time to time which we need to deal with, but the key focus has to be how we repeal the taxes Labor put in the last budget, whether it's the changes to negative gearing, capital gains tax, or the new small business tax on trusts. We're determined and committed to repealing those. We've given our own tax policy, the Tax Back guarantee, to make sure that inflation can't steal more and more of Australians' wages, and also about making sure we get costs down because we need a big, bold, confident liberal vision for this country, because that's what's going to bring us growth and prosperity.

Ellen Fanning: Yeah, but at the last election, right, you've got to win back Queenslanders. You only hold four seats in South East Queensland. Queenslanders are flirting, according to the polls, flirting with One Nation. At the last election we saw Peter Dutton picking a fight about welcome to country, and removing Aboriginal flags from official press conferences, and woke culture in schools, and the ABC's the hate media, none of which address the concerns of hip pocket issues, right? So, if you're going to do something different, say you're going to do something different.

Tim Wilson: Well, as I said, we have said we're going to do something different, we are doing something different. We're very clearly focused on the economy, and I think Australians, when they get to the next election, are going to be faced with a really difficult choice. They're going to have a government they don't trust and who's consistently broken promises and can't unite the country. We've got One Nation, who don't want to unite the country. They don't have a vision for the country that brings people together to build economic prosperity and hope. We have to be focused on the economy, backing households and small business, policies need to be geared towards making sure Australians can get ahead, they can be in control of their lives, and that we show a basic level of respect to each other, because that's the foundation that we build a united country for everybody.

Ellen Fanning: You're listening to Tim Wilson, he's the Shadow Treasurer. About 40 minutes ago, Tim, I put out a call, you know, what do you want me to ask Tim Wilson? We got 20 texts, 30 texts, more, it's about a third of the texts that we'd get in three hours of people wanting to engage with you, okay? These are…

Tim Wilson: Can I come on more often, Ellen?

Ellen Fanning: If you would, that would only be good. But I think it's interesting, I think it says something about the moment we're in, that people are saying, "Well, let's hear from this bloke and let's hear what he's got to say." So, I'll stop talking to you and I'll read some of these texts. Peter says, "There are lots of calls from the Shadow Treasurer to cut government spending. Could you ask Mr Wilson what the LNP would cut?"

Tim Wilson: Sure. We've already announced $31.3 billion of savings. Corporate welfare programs, housing bureaucracies that don't build homes, climate bureaucracies that aren't cutting emissions, we've said very clearly that we would reduce the tobacco excise to cut out the illegal and organised crime of illicit tobacco, and when we actually do that, you actually increase the amount of government revenue, so increase the amount of taxes, while at the same time cutting out illicit and organised crime, we've obviously already committed to stopping welfare for future non-citizens, because at the end of the day, we've got to have a sustainable budget position and, ultimately, Australia exists for its citizens, and so that's where our focus is.

Ellen Fanning: Okay. In order to cut inflation, right, this is a question from Phil, “ask him how he's going to reduce inflation.” The way it's been presented to Australians in Queensland from the economists over the last little while is we've got to cut spending somehow in this economy, and that's all spending, whether it's public spending by governments, federal government, Queensland government, any other state and territory government, or it's household spending, and if the governments won't cut spending, then the householders are going to feel the brunt. Isn't the reality that what you've just outlined is really not going to touch the sides? Tougher decisions are going to have to be made to truly reduce government spending. And there's so many texts I can't get through them all, Tim. So many people want to know, are you up for that?

Tim Wilson: So, we're absolutely up for the challenge and the task, because you see it's serious. No Opposition that I'm aware of has ever announced this volume of savings already at this point in the electoral cycle, and we're not done. I can make that crystal clear. I believe in prudent, lean, efficient government. I'm outraged at the ongoing corruption and fraud in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, just like we're seeing a replication of the same sort of behaviour in home aged care packages. We've seen so many of these open-ended programs where they're being used to the advantage of the people who can tap into them, not to get efficient and beneficial outcomes for the Australian community. And I'm not backing down. I'll fight fraud and corruption wherever it exists, and particularly when the honest tax dollars of Australians are then going towards dishonest outcomes.

Ellen Fanning: But isn't that what politicians always say when they don't want to announce the hard decisions? They say, "Oh, we'll cut fraud and we'll cut red tape and we'll cut back on what we spend on migrants." At any rate, I'm going to stop asking questions and go to the text line. "I think the Libs could win if they decrease the tax on fuel, helping business and everyone. Also cut politicians' perks and wages to show empathy with the workers. Find a way to make small changes to electric vehicle owners who don't pay road user tax, perhaps through their rego.” Thoughts on that?

Tim Wilson: So, just to be clear, we're already looking at a lot of these different measures as part of a conversation. I know the government's looking at a road user charge as part of EVs, but we absolutely believe that you need to have efficiency in government spending, we need to get best value for buck, and so we remain open-minded about just about anything we need to do to get there, because if not, it just stokes inflation pressure on households and makes it harder to do so.

Ellen Fanning: You're listening to Tim Wilson, he's the Shadow Treasurer. So many texts and calls coming through with questions for him on a day in which the opinion polls are showing perhaps more Australians are having a second look at the coalition, surging four percentage points, still trailing Labor, with One Nation remaining the most popular political party nationally. Here's a question from Grant: "I want a commitment from the federal opposition to change question time as suggested by Milton Dick. I want all political donations banned. All political parties get equal time on TV, radio to state their policies. The political system needs a complete change, not just policies, but how it operates." Your response?

Tim Wilson: Well, I think a lot of people look at question time and find it frustrating. Last, was it two weeks ago, we had a question time where everything was very well-behaved, but it didn't improve the quality of the outcomes or the answers that were given by the Prime Minister or the ministers. Question time has a place because that's robust accountability of government and making sure that truth can be spoken to power. If you don't have that, I don't know how we achieve the outcome. Our political system is imperfect, and I completely accept that. I'm in the Churchill camp, which is it's the best of the worst systems. And so, if you want to get a change in the political system, there are parts of it you can do, but if you ban donations, as an example, it just ends up where it entrenches existing political parties because the only way they can get resources is of course from the government providing it, and that can actually constrain people's choices and stop accountability.

Ellen Fanning: Tim Wilson with you. On the text line: "I want the opposition to clearly present their energy policy. Are you still saying that it'll be nuclear power, new coal-fired power stations?" I see Matt Canavan's just done an interview, he's got that neon sign he turns on when the television cameras film him that says "End Net Zero". What is the policy?

Tim Wilson: Well, we've already said that we're committed to lifting the nuclear moratorium, but last election we took a policy of the government building nuclear power stations, we haven't committed to that at all. And of course, we believe in an energy mix, an energy mix that makes sure that we have the baseload power we need, whether it's hydroelectric power, whether it's coal power, or whether it's gas, or of course any other type of energy that works, as well as renewables, so that we have a sustainable energy grid and we can get the price down. We of course continue to export coal from this country. There's no point pretending otherwise. It's an important part, a big revenue source for Queensland in particular, but we have to make sure we've got a mix in the grid so that we can get prices down because it also comes down not just to the price of energy, but who then goes on and invests off the back of that so we can create manufacturing jobs and economic opportunity for the next generation of Australians.

Ellen Fanning: Peter from Redlands: "Why didn't the LNP," he means the federal coalition, "stop Robodebt fraud and resulting Australian deaths?"

Tim Wilson: Well, that was now three parliaments ago, and of course it ultimately did end under the Coalition, but there's been a Royal Commission since, and it's clear that a number of things that were done were wrong. But the flip side is we basically have an automated system now from the ATO pursuing people for allegations of not paying super and imposing massive fines, and we've asked the federal government why it is that they're now essentially replicating this system to target and attack small businesses, and often without any evidence to justify it. And I'm hoping that we'll get some sort of rebalance, because small businesses are experiencing record insolvencies right now, and they're being pursued by the ATO with very little evidence.

Ellen Fanning: You think the ATO's being too tough right now?

Tim Wilson: I resolutely believe the ATO has been set on small business by the Albanese government for revenue. They can't control their spending addiction, so they're trying to get more money out of small business' hit pockets. The problem is they're pushing people to the wall. Talk to anybody in small business and they'll tell you just how aggressive the ATO is, and when they start issuing fine notices when they can't even stack up the claims behind it, I think that's a pretty clear demonstration.

Ellen Fanning: 22 minutes past five, 612 ABC Brisbane. Tim Wilson is with you, the Shadow Treasurer. Extraordinary intervention today by the federal cabinet minister Murray Watt demanding solidarity from Labor MPs and an end to the white-anting of the Treasurer, saying this out loud. He says some ALP backbenchers and critics have suggested Jim Chalmers should be stripped of the portfolio. Here's what Senator Watt had to say. The sniping needs to stop, basically.

Murray Watt: As a member of a government, I take seriously the responsibility to work together. You know, I think that Jim Chalmers is doing an excellent job as a Treasurer.

Ellen Fanning: Your response?

Tim Wilson: Well, when you need cabinet ministers to go out and defend like that, it says something pretty worrying. But the reality is backbenchers are going into their communities and they're running Jim's lines, and people are increasingly calling it out for the BS that it is. Australians know that the government keeps spending, that's stoking inflation, that's why they're paying more in their interest rates and going to the supermarket and paying more and getting less. And it doesn't matter how the Treasurer wants to spin it, people are not buying his language anymore, and his spin anymore. And it's even more problematic because the small businesses of Australia are struggling, breaking under his higher taxes as well as the cost of inflation, and they desperately need hope. And they're looking at it and saying, "When are they going to get rid of this bloke?", because he's clearly at the source of the problems and the pain households are living.

Ellen Fanning: Tim Wilson, so many text messages have been sent in. I'm really staggered…

Tim Wilson: …prompting such a response.

Ellen Fanning: Yeah, yeah, you really are. I think people want to hear from their politicians. They want to hear them speak openly about the issues of concern to them, and we thank you for doing that today.

Tim Wilson: Pleasure. Thank you.

[ENDS]