Wednesday, 29 April 2026

Transcript – Interview with Peter Stefanovic, Sky News

Topics: Capital Gains Tax, Intergenerational fairness, Cost of living and inflation, Government debt

E&OE

Peter Stefanovic: Joining us is the Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson. Good to see you this morning, Tim. So, I know you're opposed to any kind of changes to these taxes, but I want to break this up into two parts and what you think it will lead to. So, if we start off with changes to the capital gains discount. Changes are in fact put in place.

Tim Wilson MP: Well, it depends on what the government puts forward and how they structure it, but they're clearly pushing towards either removing grandfathering, which means that anyone who owns a small business, anyone who own shares or anybody who owns property is on the government's hit list. The alternative is a two-tiered system where some people get to keep one tax rate and other people don't. But that's immaterial to what the Government is actually doing. The government is lifting the ladder of opportunity up from behind them and denying young Australians a pathway to get ahead who just want to have their own chance to accumulate their own wealth, to strengthen themselves to be in a position to be able to do things like buy a home, form a business, and of course, retire with security.

Peter Stefanovic: Is all about generational fairness and helping young folks get on the ladder.

Tim Wilson MP: What they're trying to do is start intergenerational war between the young and the old. They're stoking conflict because they think it's the best way to make their political case. What we actually need to be doing is making sure that young Australians have the best chance they have to get ahead by encouraging, incentivising, hard work, savings and sacrifice, and working towards a better future for themselves and their families. Instead, we're getting the complete opposite.

Peter Stefanovic: Well, but isn't that already happening? You know, a kind of class war between the young and old already?

Tim Wilson MP: Absolutely, the Albanese government is trying to stoke an intergenerational conflict. Conflict. Well, like with inflation, Jim Chalmers keeps pouring debt petrol on the inflation fire. Anthony Albanese is pouring fire onto the idea of intergenerational conflict, because he thinks the best way for him to get ahead. The reality is it's the worst way for young Australians to get a head. If we want to create a nation of dependence where young Australians look to the government to redistribute what little they're able to achieve, we are not living out Project Australia and the best of what Australia can be. We should want to build a country where hard work pays off, where people are in control of their own lives and where there's respect for the money that people earn.

Peter Stefanovic: So, I mean, you'll obviously have a budget reply to do. What would be your policy reply, if you like, to help young people and address generational unfairness?

Tim Wilson MP: Well, I think young Australians need more now than anything hope, hope for the future that inflation isn't going to continue to eat into their wages as it is under the Albanese government. Hope that they can go on and secure to buy a home because we're building the homes that Australia needs, whereas under the albanese government the number of homes... Well, again, when you have 80 billion dollars being, sorry, I just wanna make that clear, when we have billions of dollars being thrown at public housing and it's not going towards building more homes as we have currently in Australia, we have a real problem about the structure of housing because the Albanese government simply isn't building the housing we need.

Peter Stefanovic: Okay guys out of Canberra with an expectation that inflation could jump to 4.8% again a forecast Tim but if that would it be the case what would you

Tim Wilson MP: Well, I'm not shocked. Australia has the highest inflation of any country in the advanced, of advanced economies. And it looks set to have a spike higher than any advanced economies based on the different analysis being done between different countries. So we're in a situation right now where the government keeps pouring debt petrol on the inflation fire. And as a consequence, Australians continue to have their wages in into, their living standards in into. And that's why we need a serious reset in this budget.

Peter Stefanovic: Thank you.