Monday, 12 October 2026

Topics: trusts legislation; ATO credit card ban; Victorian politics; Josh Frydenberg; U.S. Army execution.

E&OE……………………..

Sally Sara: Tim Wilson, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.

Tim Wilson: Thanks for having me, Sally.

Sally Sara: Parliament is returning this week, and the government is expected to bring legislation that would make changes to tax arrangements for discretionary trusts. Why are you opposed to the change?

Tim Wilson: Well, firstly, they didn't take them to the last election. In fact, they said 50 times over they wouldn't make these changes. The second reason is that the government has consistently now bungled the implementation of its changes. They've now had five backdowns from their federal budget, including their surcharge ban last week to do with the ATO and banning of credit card payments. The government doesn't understand what it's doing and the impact this is going to have, particularly on small business. They really need to abandon it, otherwise they're going to cause further economic chaos.

Sally Sara: If the government mitigates the impact on small businesses, would you then support the changes?

Tim Wilson: They can't mitigate the changes or the impact on small business, because the whole proposition is that they think that there's kind of these family distributions to minimise tax, and that's not why small business uses trusts. What they're going to do is apply higher taxes on struggling small businesses or force them to change structures, which is going to incur massive costs, stamp duty liabilities, and then create chaos with financing as they have to go back to the banks and get things restructured.

Sally Sara: The government's rationale for the change is that people earning income through a salary shouldn't pay more tax than someone earning the same amount from a trust. Are you opposed to that idea, or is it just the way that the government is going about it that you object to?

Tim Wilson: People set up the structures of their small business to give them asset protection, and they make financial decisions based on that. For the government to come along, change the law without taking it to consultation, particularly an election, is directly undermining the foundations of hundreds of thousands of small businesses all around the country. They can dress it up however they like, but it doesn't change the fact there was no consultation, it did not get taken to an election, and it's going to cause chaos for financing of small businesses into the future.

Sally Sara: Let's talk about the issue of credit card surcharges. The Australian Tax Office will delay the implementation of its credit card ban until the middle of next year, with the government covering the cost of the delay. Is that a win for small business?

Tim Wilson: Well, it’s a reprieve from what is going to be a much bigger problem for small business. Small business is being asked to absorb higher costs at a time of declining profitability, record small business insolvencies, and a number of people leaving small business voluntarily because they simply cannot keep the doors open. And so, yes, it helps, but it doesn't solve the root cause of the problem and highlights how much this government doesn't understand the consequences of the changes they're introducing. Now the Treasurer has had to back down again after realising he didn't understand the impact of his changes, but really what he needs to do is just scrap it all together.

Sally Sara: You're listening to Radio National Breakfast. My guest is the Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson. Published excerpts of former Liberal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's upcoming memoir outline policy proposals, fuelling speculation that he may contest a seat at the next election. Do you think Mr Frydenberg would be an asset to the Coalition should he return?

Tim Wilson: I think it's always good to have candidates who want to step up and run and make sure we pick up seats so that Angus Taylor can be Prime Minister of this country. What we need is people who've got courage in their hearts and prepared to make the sacrifices necessary for public office. So, I have no issue with people putting themselves forward. I encourage them to do so, so they can be part of a winning team, so we can have an Angus Taylor-led government.

Sally Sara: Angus Taylor yesterday ruled out adopting Mr Frydenberg's reported suggestion of raising the GST. In your view, do ideas from former politicians help Angus Taylor as he tries to build support and unite the Coalition behind new policies?

Tim Wilson: I believe we want a better country and that's through a contest of ideas. But in the middle of a cost of living crisis, we're not going to be increasing taxes. In fact, we want to do the complete reverse. We want to scrap Jim Chalmers' taxes that are hitting small businesses and households right now and knee-capping people's pathway to get ahead, and that needs to be our focus, as well as, of course, being prudent in spending because that is driving inflation, which is undermining real wages and increasing costs on mortgages and at the supermarket.

Sally Sara: Let's talk about your home state of Victoria. The latest polling from the AFR RedBridge ahead of the state election in Victoria shows that the coalition could form a majority in the state. If those polling results are replicated on November 28, are you feeling confident?

Tim Wilson: I'm feeling optimistic, but there's a lot of hard work, and we know the history of the Labor Party is they'll say anything and do anything to stay in office, just look at the Prime Minister. 50 times over he said he wouldn't introduce a range of taxes, gets over the election, does the opposite. For a long time, Victorians have known they're governed by an organised crime cartel registered as a political party. We've seen $15 billion of public money handed to organised crime through the CFMEU-Labor cartel. People cannot wait for change. It must come.

Sally Sara: Why do you think we're seeing in some of the polling a softening in support for One Nation?

Tim Wilson: I think obviously we've got a clear policy program we're putting forward as a Coalition around reducing people's taxes and making sure Australians can get ahead, getting a program for migration that actually builds the future of Australia. What Australians want is confidence for the future and hope. Unfortunately, the current leader of One Nation mostly focuses on fuelling division, sitting in judgment of people, and isn't focused on uniting Australians and bringing people together for a more prosperous future. That's where we're focused.

Sally Sara: Just finally on a separate issue, the Greens want the federal government to prevent the live streaming of a firing squad execution in the United States from being available to watch in Australia. Do you think that it should be blocked?

Tim Wilson: Look, my basic principle is we shouldn't be promoting that sort of violence and so my fundamental view is yes, I think it's enormously problematic to tolerate this type of behaviour. But the challenge is going to be how do you do that in a way that doesn't amount to a censorship ban on the internet.

Sally Sara: What do you mean?

Tim Wilson: Well, if it's going to be live streamed, how are you going to do that without creating the artifice to be able to block content on the internet and create an online portal of censorship, and the specifics of that, I'll have to leave to others.

Sally Sara: Tim Wilson, thank you very much for joining me this morning.

Tim Wilson: Thanks.

[ENDS]