Interview on News24, News Day

Monday 17 August 2026

Topics: superannuation; housing; wages; ABS lending data.

E&OE……………………..

Kieran Gilbert: Welcome back to the program. Joining me live in the studio is the Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson. Thanks very much for your time.

Tim Wilson: Thanks, Kieran. Haven't been on your show for ages.

Kieran Gilbert: Yeah, welcome back. It's nice to have you here, and it seems timely given the comments made by Pauline Hanson with my friend Andrew Clennell yesterday. Superannuation has been a focus of yours for a long time as well. You've questioned the order of things in speeches in Parliament, whether we've flipped the priorities, where it used to be housing number one, super number two, and you think we've got our priorities wrong. Is Pauline Hanson on the right track there?

Tim Wilson: Well, Pauline's going to say what she's going to say. I'm not going to deal with her. The focus always has to be, and this is what the data shows, that the biggest leading indicator of poverty in retirement is that you're renting in retirement. And so, we've always believed that home ownership is a very important pillar of a retirement income scheme, and that has to be factored in. And the government, all the modelling it's done on retirement security, is based on the assumption that you own your own home. So, it's an important part of the conversation, and anyone who doesn't think that is engaged in economic, sort of social engineering because it suits their interests, not the interests of Australians.

Kieran Gilbert: So, for your priorities to focus in terms of your policy ahead of the next election, on getting people into housing?

Tim Wilson: We'll look at all options, of course.

Kieran Gilbert: And using super to help that?

Tim Wilson: We'll look at all options, which includes tax and includes looking at, you know, the other incentives that are in place and already exist, as well as, of course, there are schemes that already allow people to use, in different ways, co-contributions to their super accounts to save for a first home. And if you went back to 1992 and you said that retirement pensions matter more than home ownership because home ownership, you get the benefits of in your working life and your retirement, whereas retirement only is in retirement, people would say that was madness. Of course, we need to make sure that home ownership is a central pillar of economic security during your working life and your retirement.

Kieran Gilbert: Do you, do you think the Coalition should be open to campaigning on reducing the Superannuation Guarantee?

Tim Wilson: That's not our focus at all. Our focus is making sure that people have enough choice and agency and control over their own lives. Because what Australians are living right now is declines in real wages, $1,200 per annum. People are going backwards, their costs are rising, and what they need is to be able to put themselves into a position to be able to go on and buy their first home. But we know the data shows…

Kieran Gilbert: So given the real wages question though, would it not then stack up, given your previous arguments, to reduce the Superannuation Guarantee from 12% and put that money into wages?

Tim Wilson: Well, the Superannuation Guarantee is 12% on top of nominal wages, and so, the real issue there is a problem of inflation. The government is addicted to inflation, and they want to engage in a stoke inflation, tax inflation, spend inflation vicious cycle as Australian households go backwards. That's why real wages have gone backwards by $1,200. That's one of the reasons, as well as the budget measures that were introduced only a few months ago. We've seen a decline in first-home buyers. So, despite all the government's spruiking and the claim, them high-fiving themselves that they've achieved this great outcome for first-home buyers, they're actually going backwards.

Kieran Gilbert: But you've said before that you think that low and even middle-income earners should have the right to choose between putting more into super or more into their pocket. Is that not your position anymore?

Tim Wilson: We’ve got our policy that we'll take to the next election. But, you know, in a conversation about superannuation, I've always believed in people having maximum control of their money. This is the big divide between us and the Labor Party. The Coalition believes superannuation is your money, and you should be able to determine how to use it. The Labor Party believes that superannuation money is their money, and they harvest it for graft and kickbacks every step of the way between themselves, the trade union movement, because they see it as something there to be manipulated to enrich themselves.

Kieran Gilbert: And so, given that position on the union control and Labor influence over that capital, does that undermine your overall faith in superannuation?

Tim Wilson: Well, it undermines my faith with the structures that exist, where we have the Labor Party taking graft and corrupt payments through the superannuation system between Labor Party, the unions, the CFMEU. It's all one giant cartel kickback circle of life. And ultimately, people should have choice about whether they want to become a willing participant in the corrupt cartel kickback circle of life or they should be able to control their money and decide their own destiny.

Kieran Gilbert: And will you argue for that internally to say, look, this should be a big focus of ours, not just to get people into their homes, but if you're needing to access these funds sooner, as you made the point, it's a taxpayer's amount of money, not the government's, if we're talking about superannuation?

Tim Wilson: It's not even taxpayers' money, it's your money. Superannuation is deferred wages. It is your money going into your account that you should control. And so, I'll always argue for a conversation about how Australians control their money, control the opportunity to be able to go and buy their own home, and control the pathway for retirement security, and not for their money to be taken as graft or kickbacks for the Labor Party.

Kieran Gilbert: Does it undermine the whole system though, potentially, if you're allowing people earlier access?

Tim Wilson: The thing that undermines superannuation the most is that they're not in a position to go on and afford their own home. We know the biggest leading indicator of poverty in retirement is that people don't own their own home. Increasingly, because the age at which people are buying their first home is later, it means that they are using their superannuation to pay off their home on retirement. We need to change that construct.

Kieran Gilbert: The number of investor loans fell 8.6% in the June quarter, the lowest since 2022. Is this a sign that the government's policy is working? It's opening up the space for first-home buyers.

Tim Wilson: Well, the number of applications by first-home buyers has dropped by 2.9%. So, you're seeing investors move out, there's no question about that, but you're also seeing first-home buyers move out. So, this is not a win. The government's budget has been a spectacular failure in trying to improve the number of first-home owners getting into the market. We're seeing rising rents, fewer homes, and lower confidence than we've ever seen in a housing market, as well as fewer new builds. This is a quinella of failure by the Albanese government.

Kieran Gilbert: But given it's taken a bit of heat out of the market, doesn't it allow more first-home buyers in? You've said that number was down, but not by the same amount as the investor decline.

Tim Wilson: But the price for first home continues to rise. There's been a drop-off at the top end of the market, no one's contesting that, that's what industry data shows. But at the first home end, the price of a new home is going up. So, you're seeing fewer applications and prices rising. The government's policy around improving access for first-home owners to be able to get ahead isn't working. It's knee-capping young Australians, and particularly those who need help most.

Kieran Gilbert: Can we start go back to where we began, in fact, it fits in well with this issue, is should your priority be heading into the next election, when you're targeting younger voters and first-home buyers, accessing that super to help bolster your claim when it comes to making homes and housing more affordable, or would that policy simply drive up prices once again?

Tim Wilson: We will announce our policy at the appropriate time, Kieran. But our focus is absolutely to maximize the chance for young Australians to buy their first home. It's absolutely to make sure that people can retire with security and, more importantly, they control their superannuation. And most importantly, to make sure that Australians' retirement savings do not become a pathway for graft and corruption to the benefit of the CFMEU, the Labor Party, or the trade union movement.

Kieran Gilbert: Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson, thanks for your time.

[ENDS]