Wednesday 13 May 2026

Transcript - Interview on ABC Radio National, Breakfast

Topics: Federal budget

E&OE ...


Sally Sara: Earlier, we were staying with the budget, and Tim Wilson is the Shadow Treasurer and joins me in our Parliament House studio this morning. Tim Wilson, welcome back to Breakfast.

Tim Wilson: Oh, thank you for having me.

Sally Sara: Do you think these measures will make a significant difference in getting more younger people into the housing market?

Tim Wilson: Well, that’s quite easy to answer because the budget documents answer it for us. According to the government’s own budget documents, 35,000 fewer homes will be built as a consequence of these tax changes. The Treasurer has been at pains to say that supply is the big problem we have with housing. And in fact, what the budget documents also confess is that because of these tax changes, rents will likely go up. So young Australians will be knee-capped on multiple fronts as they’re saving for a deposit, they’re going to pay higher rents. Then the government is going to apply more taxes on their first home deposit if it’s invested, and they’re going to then go on and build fewer homes, which means that it’s going to be less likely young Australians will be able to buy one.

Sally Sara: The Treasurer argues that this package should be taken as a whole, and when things like the local infrastructure fund are included, that will increase supply. Do you accept those numbers?

Tim Wilson: Well, that’s not what his budget documents confess, and that’s the problem. There’s a lot of spin around this.

Sally Sara: But that says there'll be another 65,000 there in net that it will go up overall.

Tim Wilson: Actually 75, and it actually says that about the number of people who want to be homeowners, but it doesn’t have any real basis behind that. But what the government’s own documents do show is, one, they are going to increase rents; two, they are going to tax people who invest their first home deposits so they can try and bring the future forward; and three, they’re going to build fewer homes by confession of their own documents.

Sally Sara: When it comes to principles of equity and fairness, was it time to call time on things like capital gains tax discounts and negative gearing?

Tim Wilson: Well, not if you want to build out the future growth of the Australian economy and you want to give young Australians the same chance as baby boomers. What the government has done is turned around and said we’re going to protect the existing arrangements for those who’ve accumulated wealth, but we are going to knee-cap young Australians in their chance to get ahead. And so this isn’t an intergenerational argument that leads to lower taxes.

Sally Sara: How can young people get ahead if they can’t get into the market at all?

Tim Wilson: Well, firstly, it’s only one part of the story. Young Australians increasingly—and we’re getting all these stories through our notthetax.com.au website where young Australians are saying, "I invested my house deposit so that I could get into the market, and now the government is going to basically double the tax rate on the gains I secure through that." Young Australians are starting small businesses because they want to get ahead, or side hustle. At every point, the government is targeting their pathway to get ahead, not actually giving them assistance, by their own admission, with 35,000 fewer homes.

Sally Sara: The Treasurer’s also introduced an income tax offset, which is just for wages and salaries, not for investment income. And the Treasurer has confirmed that’s something he wants to build on in future budgets. What do you make of this new distinction and plans for this distinction in the Australian tax system?

Tim Wilson: Well, what we know is the history and the record of the Treasurer, which is he offers tax cuts or other different short-term measures, and then he turns around and inflates them out of existence. This is again by admission of his own budget documents. The taxes they took—the tax cuts they took to the last election were wiped out by December. This new measure will be wiped out within six months because of his active inflation agenda. So the government’s strategy consistently has been: stoke the inflation, tax the inflation, and then spend the inflation and keep the cycle going. It’s not actually addressing the root cause of the problem because they are the problem.

Sally Sara: For young Australians who are persuaded by the government’s argument that it is using these tax reforms to make the housing market fairer, what would the coalition do instead? What’s your message for young Australians?

Tim Wilson: What—the first thing we need to do is make sure there’s more supply. The government’s own budget documents say they will build 35,000 fewer homes. Secondly, we need to temper demand, and this will be addressed tomorrow night in Angus Taylor’s budget reply speech. But by the government’s own documents, budget documents, they’re going to overshoot again in the next two years migration targets by 90,000. So they’re stoking demand, reducing supply. We know the consequence of where that will lead.

Sally Sara: What do you think the electoral consequences will be of breaking a promise?

Tim Wilson: I think they’re going to be horrific for the government because it wasn’t some sort of side conversation. The Prime Minister was caught on camera, red-hot with rage, telling journalists 50 times over in his own words, "we are not going to be doing these new taxes." He’s now broken that and broken with it, I think, trust in his government, but broken trust with the Australian people. And just the idea that Australia is a country of aspiration, and the idea that young Australians should look to the horizon with a sense of confidence and hope about how they’re going to get ahead.

Sally Sara: Would the opposition, the coalition, would you repeal these measures when you get into government if they get through?

Tim Wilson: Well, our objective is to make sure that we stop them getting legislated in the first place because they’ll lead to fewer homes and higher rents and higher taxes on first home deposits. But if necessary, we’ll take those measures. But what we want to do is make sure that young Australians look to the horizon with confidence and actually believe that they can build a better future for themselves and their families, not just look out to a sea of debt, higher taxes, lower living standards, and increasingly broken trust when you have a government that has so nakedly lied.

Sally Sara: Will we need to wait until the next election to get comprehensive economic policy from the coalition?

Tim Wilson: No, next—Angus Taylor has his budget reply speech tomorrow night. Next Wednesday, I’m giving my National Press Club speech in response to the budget, and both of those will include very clear directions on what we want to achieve with the economy and build a better future for this country. And more importantly, where Australians look to the future with confidence and hope, not just a sea of debt and higher taxes and lower living standards.

Sally Sara: Tim Wilson, good to have you in the studio this morning. Thank you very much for coming in.

Tim Wilson: Thank you.

[ENDS]