Tuesday, 9 December 2025

E&OE

Peter Stefanovic: Joining us live this morning is the shadow IR Minister Tim Wilson. Let's start off with your thoughts on this Tim. Did he have to do it?

Tim Wilson MP: Well, I think what we're going to see now is the full revelation for the Australian people of just how much energy bills have actually gone up. So did he have to do it? Ultimately comes down to being honest with the Australian people. Electricity prices have gone up by forty percent. They've tried to pretend otherwise, they've pushed up inflation to try and hide it, but now Australians are paying in other ways. So there's been an end point so that it doesn't keep stoking inflation. 

Peter Stefanovic: Well, I mean and that's what it was doing, didn't it? I mean it was at a six billion dollar expense in the end, but it was just masking a problem. A bigger problem. 

Tim Wilson MP: It was just masking a problem which the government was desperately trying to hide and get themselves through an election on, they promised $275 of cuts to electricity bills. They masked it by handing out a lot of money to pretend otherwise. What they did was stoke inflation and keep interest rates higher. So Australians are now paying for Labor's debt-fuelled spending. 

Peter Stefanovic: Should those rebates or some other help continue? 

Tim Wilson MP: Well, I think if you're going to do it, you shouldn't be stoking inflation. And that's the problem. Everything the government is doing right now is borrowing from the future to spend more today, which is putting up pressure on inflation and increasing interest rates. So anything that's been given isn't actually helping Australian households. If you want to address the problem of inflation, if you want to get prices down, the government needs to drive reform and they're squibbing it and they're using the easiest way to get around it. 

Peter Stefanovic: Sure, I mean that's going to take a long time though, just for the short term. I mean Matt Canavan he seemed open to some kind of extra help being provided, would you? And you make the point, it does lead to inflation, but is there something that can be done? 

Tim Wilson MP: Well, I haven't seen any proposals on the table at this point that's not going to drive inflation. Everything the government's doing, it doesn't matter whether it's in industry policy, energy policy, wages policy, industrial relations, everything it's doing is driving inflation and meaning costs go up for Australians. So I want to see a non-inflationary measure before I'm prepared to endorse it.

Peter Stefanovic: Okay, tell all this to Anika Wells who doesn't mind spending a bit of taxpayer money although it is her job to attend sporting events. Again with Matt, he says she's got too many yellow cards, she should be given a red card as Sussan Ley got years ago. Do you agree? 

Tim Wilson MP: I think this is down now to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is one who's been signing off the cheques, particularly on ministerial travel, to places like New York. And so I think his judgement has to be brought into question about how much he endorses the decisions that are being made. The problem is that he has to endorse them whether or not they pass the pub test, because he has signed off on those cheques, so now they're in a tryst together. So anything that binds Anika Wells binds the Prime Minister too.

Peter Stefanovic: Have you taken liberties with taxpayer funds? 

Tim Wilson MP: I always spend taxpayers' funds as prudently as possible. And so I think it's very important to do so. But you know, we all have to travel in our job. Nobody's questioning that. The question is making sure you're doing it on best value and making sure you're getting the best outcomes possible.

Peter Stefanovic: Because it is something that's caught up that all parties have been caught up in in years gone by. Do you think there needs to be a rule change surrounding what families can access? 

Tim Wilson MP: Well, there's actually very limited rules around families and the capacity for members of parliament to travel with families is because of the very obscure nature of their role. So it's constrained. So I'm not seeing any evidence that there's a compelling case to change it at the moment, but I still think you need to exercise judgement and be mindful that members of parliament should be spending taxpayers money wisely. 

Peter Stefanovic: Okay, let's just close on the front page of the Australian. It's in your space, Tim, in IR. So you've got this story where unions are set to influence a Labor plan involving AI. So big miners bracing for Labor to grant unions unprecedented influence over businesses through its artificial intelligence plan. Are you braced for that? 

Tim Wilson MP: We're absolutely preparing that's where Labor's going to go. Again, another inflationary measure. One avenue government might actually have to make Australian business more competitive, and their answer is let's not do that. Let's suffocate Australian businesses from being more competitive and increasing their chance to increase their growth and opportunity. And this is part of the problem with the Labor government. Where a choice between artificial intelligence enabling Australians to be their own CEOs and empowering them, Labor's answer is control and wanting to shut down pathways for economic improvement. 

Peter Stefanovic: We'll wrap it up there. Tim Wilson, good to see you. Thank you. We'll chat to you again soon.

ENDS