Friday 8 May 2026

Transcript

Interview with Jaimee Rogers, Sky News, Bond Report

Topics: Federal Budget

E&OE ....

Jaimee Rogers: Well, let's delve further now into the proposed budget and joining me now is Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson. Tim, thank you for joining me. Tuesday's budget is being framed around fairness and addressing this so-called intergenerational equity. What are you expecting to see?

Tim Wilson: It's more what I'm concerned about seeing, Jaimee, in the- in the light of the budget. Because your point is right; intergenerational fairness is about giving the next generation of Australians a chance to work, to get ahead, and where hard work pays off. The government instead seems interested in pulling the ladder of opportunity up before they get their first foot on the rung. So I'm expecting a lot more taxes, a lot more limitations on how young Australians will be able to work hard, to save, to be able to buy their own home, and all on the false flag that if we add more taxes, it's going to lead to building of new homes. In fact, the data increasingly seems to show that with what they're proposing on negative gearing, it will increase rents. Changes to capital gains will actually lead to founder flight, that's certainly something some people are warning about. So self-starters who create jobs leaving Australia, or certainly moving their money from Australia. I don't see how this advances the national interest or the next generation's interest.

Jaimee Rogers: Tim, these are significant changes, and ultimately broken election promises. I want to just play you something that Jim Chalmers said on Sky News yesterday.

Jim Chalmers: I think the responsibility is to explain why, if there's a change of view, why the government has come to a different view. And if there are changes in that regard on budget night, then that's what I intend to do: to explain why the government's come to a different view.

Jaimee Rogers: What do you make of that comment? I just think if you're going to be making such significant changes, take them to the election first, rather than just throwing them in mid-term.

Tim Wilson: Well, the Prime Minister in, sort of, a fit of rage said before the election fifty times over that he wasn't going to make these changes. So people went into the ballot box voting for a government, whether I agree with it or not, with a particular agenda, and now they're breaking it. And these are not the taxes Australians voted for. Now, we've set up a website: www.notthetax.com.au to start to harvest the stories, because there are so many people who when they see these changes being floated, not just voted for the government thinking they were a safe pair of hands on this issue, but now feel deceived. And the Treasurer can say, you know, he's got a responsibility to explain. Well, that's resolutely true, no one's questioning that. But I know amongst all the focus group research that he'll come up with, he'll come up with some sort of smooth line. But this is a fundamental breach of trust with the Australian community. If they break it here, then how can we trust them on anything else, including the capital gains won't be applied to the family home?

Jaimee Rogers: Yeah, you're spot on, and as you were mentioning before, I look at these potential changes to things like negative gearing and capital gains tax, and I just think we are punishing success and diminishing any form of ambition to get ahead in this country. And ultimately, how do we then motivate people to actually want to work hard when in the end the government's just going to come after it?

Tim Wilson: One-hundred percent. And, you know, capital gains tax is essentially about incentivising people to be able to build something. And this is the point that the tech center, the financial services sector, is making, which is that they've put a lot of effort into building businesses and they're essentially going to have up to a 47% applied tax rate. You know, it doesn't encourage people to take equity instead of salary so we attract the best talent. This is corrosion and erosion of the foundations of Australia's future economy, and all to fund a government who can't give up a spending addiction and always wants to find a way to shove a hand down the back pocket of Australians.

Jaimee Rogers: And the thing that really irritates me at the moment, Tim, before I let you go, is all around this narrative of intergenerational equity. But isn't the bigger issue here the fact that we're heading towards a trillion dollars in debt that the next generation will have to pay back? That there is the intergenerational equity that we should all be talking about.

Tim Wilson: Well, resolutely true. We're teetering towards one trillion dollars of public debt, Commonwealth public debt. And debt is tomorrow's taxes. So every time the government borrows from the future, spends today, they're stoking inflation. We then have to service that debt, then we have to repay it as well. And as I said, today's debt is tomorrow's taxes, which means that we're living better simply to pass the cost on to future generations. Now, that is explicitly intergenerational theft.

Jaimee Rogers: Well, Tim, thank you for your time tonight. I know I, as well as plenty other people, will be watching Angus's budget reply very closely.

[ENDS]