Thursday, 21 May 2026

Transcript - Interview on ABC Radio National, Breakfast

Topics: Top marginal tax rate, capital gains tax, small business

E&OE....

Sally Sara: Tim Wilson, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.

Tim Wilson: Well, thank you for having me.

Sally Sara: New South Wales Premier Chris Minns says the top tax rate of 47 percent should be cut. Do you agree with that?

Tim Wilson: Well, I welcome Chris Minns following what I've been saying now for, I don't know, many years. I absolutely believe we should find a way to reduce the top marginal rate. I absolutely believe that we should want Australians to work hard and for them to be able to keep the reward of their work.

Sally Sara: You said yesterday that the gap between the taxation of wages and investment does need to be closed, but by taxing wages less, what do you think the top rate of income tax should be?

Tim Wilson: Well, everyone will have their own views and of course there's a big difference between what I would like it to be and making sure the budget is also sustainable. But I will absolutely always focus on how we get not just the top marginal tax rate down, but every tax rate down, because there are so many Australians right now who are working harder than ever and they don't feel like their hard work is paying off. It's being eaten away by inflation. That's why we made our announcement last Thursday to index tax brackets and the tax thresholds, because we believe that Australians should keep more of their hard-earned money.

Sally Sara: If the government restricted the capital gains tax changes to just housing rather than all assets, would you support it?

Tim Wilson: Well, the foundation of the change of policy, as they now call it, is that they said one thing before the election and then after. So I can't sit idly by and watch a government so blatantly, in their own words, fifty times over so they wouldn't do something before an election and then turn around after an election and do something different. This is a betrayal of trust of the Australian people. It's an abuse of trust. And so no, I can't.

Sally Sara: On Radio National Breakfast, I'm speaking with the Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson. Yesterday you said you're no longer convinced that tinkering at the margins of the economy will fix it. How would the Coalition restructure the economy?

Tim Wilson: Well, I said yesterday and the first stage of that was to consult on the development of a Small Business Act. What this CGT change that the government's put forward is going to do is smash a lot of small businesses around the country. I think we need a self-starter nation where people back themselves to get ahead and I think that's going to be increasingly important in an AI-driven economy where people will be a mix of salaried work and having side hustles and of course building their own small businesses. And we need to be backing young Australians in particular to lead, to define their own destiny and I think we need economic structures to back that in.

Sally Sara: How do you see migrants from an economic perspective? Are they a net benefit to Australia or are they a burden to Australia?

Tim Wilson: Well, we need to be clear, not everybody is identical. I think we need to treat everybody with respect regardless of their circumstances. Some people, of course, are massive economic contributors and a massive net economic benefit to the country because migrants are often those and new Australians are most likely to go off and do things like set up small businesses. Franchises, for example, are often heavily dominated by new Australians that want to get ahead. And so we want to take that spirit and that energy because that energy enlivens our country and particularly the commerce of our country.

Sally Sara: How careful do you think the language should be when talking about issues of immigration in Australia?

Tim Wilson: Well, I think we need to be very clear that we believe the best pathway for migrants and new Australians to successfully integrate into our country is not just around social and cultural norms, but also around economic integration and the capacity to be able to house them. And so this is part of a story not just about new Australians and migrants, it's also a story about how we make sure our economic settings and our social settings for our country advance all of us. Because Australia is not just bit parts of individuals or families or communities, though it is. It's also about what we're seeking to aspire and achieve together.

Sally Sara: You're one of the Liberal Party's few remaining MPs with an urban constituency. Do you think your party should focus its energies on trying to win back Labor voters on the issue of tax instead of trying to win back One Nation voters on the issue of migration?

Tim Wilson: Well, I think we can walk and chew gum and I think our focus has to be how we're going to build a better future for everybody. I don't care what your geography is, I don't care what your gender is, I don't care what your personal circumstances are or who you might be tempted into, whether it's the false promise of resentment and division that Labor offers or the orange paddock of despair which other parties offer. We have to be a bold and confident Liberal Party that is seeking to define the future of the country where everybody looks and says through their values, I'll be able to live out my best life, and that's what I'm selling.

Sally Sara: What do you think your constituency in Goldstein think of your proposal to strip away access to welfare and the National Disability Insurance Scheme for permanent residents who pay tax?

Tim Wilson: Well, when I talk to Goldstein residents, what they are shocked at is that a lot of these schemes are available. People look at the NDIS and they see it's become a honeypot of fraud and corruption which has been taken advantage of by organized crime and they're horrified about that. They look at how it's being replicated in home aged care packages, we have court action being taken about phantom children being enrolled in childcare. People want honest government, they want transparency to rebuild trust, particularly after this government has shredded all trust in their government because of their broken promises. And so I think having clarity and integrity is central.

Sally Sara: Were you consulted on the idea of not providing these welfare payments to only citizens only? Were you consulted on the idea before the budget reply speech was formulated?

Tim Wilson: Yeah, we have lots of conversations inside the Coalition and that was one of them. I mean, we've all believed that we need to make sure that Australia works for Australians. That's the basis that you have sustainability for welfare programs. It's the basis on which you have sustainability of a migration program because it's deemed to work for the best interest of the country.

Sally Sara: Was it taken to the party room?

Tim Wilson: It wasn't taken to the party room, it was done in the way that things are normally done in the lead-up to the budget which is a group called the Shadow Expenditure Review Committee. And so that's just the way things normally work.

Sally Sara: Where do you see the focus for the Coalition to win back government? Is it battling One Nation or is it focusing on the center again?

Tim Wilson: It's focused on the self-starters of the nation and backing Australians who back themselves. Small business is the center ground of so many people's hard work and aspiration. Not only was that true before last Tuesday, but because of the budget it's been explicit now because the government has basically gone after a complete assault on the self-starters and small business of this country and the family businesses of this country and we are going to stand up and we are going to fight for them.

Sally Sara: Tim Wilson, thank you very much for joining me.

Tim Wilson: Thanks, Sally.

Sally Sara: That's the Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson.

[ENDS]