Tuesday 12 May 2026

Transcript - Interview with 7 News, Budget program

Topics: Federal budget

E&OE...

Mark Riley: Tim Wilson, thanks for joining us.

Tim Wilson: Thanks for having me, Mark.

Mark Riley: Your response to this budget?

Tim Wilson: Well, it's a budget that's built on broken promises, on higher taxes, on lower living standards, and building fewer homes for Australians. We set three basic tests for the budget. One was to improve or restore standards of living. It hasn't done that over the life of this government; real wages have gone back 3%. Second was to actually see an improvement or restore Australia's security; we've seen a drop in defense spending. And the third one was honesty. Now, to be fair to the government, there is a little bit of honesty: they are going to build fewer homes under this budget and they are going to see an increase in rents by their own admission.

Mark Riley: But not honesty in terms of broken promises.

Tim Wilson: Well, I think everyone now knows that the government has just lied through their teeth to get through an election. They've now broken these promises and they've now done it flagrantly and openly to the Australian people. But the consequence at least most people thought was surely this will increase the chance that young Australians get into a home. The government's own budget documents say they'll increase the cost of rent and reduce the volume of housing supply by 35,000 homes over the next decade.

Mark Riley: So are you opposed to these tax changes?

Tim Wilson: Well, I can't see how we can support a tax change that's going to lead to 35,000 [fewer] new homes being built, nor how we can support a tax change that's going to increase rents, nor one that's going to tax investor house deposits.

Mark Riley: What about the $250 tax offset? Will you support that?

Tim Wilson: We'll be supporting the measures around the tax offset because we see that as a pathway to smooth the pain for Australian households. But we need to be realistic about this. The tax cuts the government took to the last election will be wiped out by the end of the year by Jim Chalmers' active inflation agenda, and these ones will be wiped out by his active inflation agenda as well.

Mark Riley: So they should be bigger?

Tim Wilson: Well, that's not what we're saying because if you keep spending money you're going to only seek to stoke inflation and that's been the consistent problem of this government. They've been in a state of denial about the contribution they've made. The Reserve Bank increased interest rates earlier this year reflecting inflation last year and, of course, they've been warned by the Reserve Bank and by the International Monetary Fund that if they don't do targeted measures it will lead to more inflation.

Mark Riley: Immigration. The norm goes up by 20,000 this year?

Tim Wilson: Over the next two years they're going to overshoot by 90,000 migrants in comparison to their target. So the government is really using migration as a way to bump up their numbers in their budget and pumping people in to support the budget. That's not a sustainable way to go forward, least of all because they're going to reduce the number of houses by 35,000 over the next decade and they're going to increase migration in two years by 90,000.

Mark Riley: But they say they're bringing in skilled workers. 70% of the intake will be people with high skills, we're told, to help build those houses.

Tim Wilson: And people still need places to live and it's not going to be proportional to the challenge. This is the problem with the government's budget: they've designed something around a narrative and they're trying to make the numbers stack up to support it. Classic Jim Chalmers: spin first, substance try and figure it out later.

Mark Riley: Well, I guess we'll hear your alternative in Angus Taylor's budget reply speech on Thursday night.

Tim Wilson: You will.

Mark Riley: Thanks very much, Tim.

Tim Wilson: Thank you.

[ENDS]