Monday, 4 May 2026

Transcript – Interview with Clinton Maynard, 2GB, Sydney Now

Topics: Tax brackets, Inflation, Federal Budget

E&OE....

Clinton Maynard: For instance, that income tax is going to change next week. The Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson joins me. G'day Tim.

Tim Wilson: G'day Clinton.

Clinton Maynard: Good to have you on the program. So this government is the highest taxing in history. How have you come up with that figure?

Tim Wilson: Well, we simply looked at what the projected spending was against the facts of how much they're taxing. And if you look at different governments over Australian political history, they came up to 23.57% of average tax to GDP over the coming—the future years of their budget. But more distressingly than that, it's actually how much Australians have gone backwards through lower real wages, higher income taxes, and higher mortgage repayments, effectively amounting to a couple—average couple with an average mortgage—going $30,000 a year backwards under this government.

Clinton Maynard: Bracket creep has been a big problem for years, and particularly under this government. What should change?

Tim Wilson: Well, I think the focus of the government needs to shift towards a growth mindset, and particularly towards incentivizing people to work. You don't incentivize people to work by just allowing people to fall into higher and higher tax brackets. When you do that without any sort of offset or any reduction, it becomes a disincentive. And let's be very clear about this: the tax cuts they promised at the election last year in May were already wiped out by the Treasurer's active inflation agenda by December. That's how rampant their inflation agenda is and how every promise they make on income tax doesn't materially improve Australians' living standards.

Clinton Maynard: So Tim, on the tax brackets, are you advocating changes to the tax brackets, the return of indexation?

Tim Wilson: Well, I mean, I would love to see lower taxes across the board. The biggest challenge is I don't know the budget that I may inherit in, after the next election, because we've got this budget plus potentially two more. But it seems absurd to me that more and more Australians are falling into the top tax bracket. I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation of what the threshold should be to fall in the highest tax bracket. If you index for inflation or of average weekly earnings off the 2007 level, which is $150,000, today it'd have to be closer to somewhere between $225,000 and $270,000 depending on which index you use. That's how much inflation has gone up and how much the government is continuing to take from people's wages.

Clinton Maynard: So once you get a better idea of the figures—and you'll have more of an idea with the four-year forward estimates after next week—would you look at indexation?

Tim Wilson: Well, I think a lot of people want that. I'd certainly love that, but the reality or the economic, or real fiscal reality is I can't commit to that until I see these numbers. I'd love to see lower income tax, particularly for small business people because they're doing it so tough right now. The self-starters of our country are squarely in the crosshairs of this government with their family savings tax agenda, whether it's capital gains, negative gearing, or what they're going to do to trusts. And so targeting self-starters is literally eating at the foundations of our economy.

Clinton Maynard: Government spending is at a 40-year high when measured against GDP. Over the weekend, the Treasurer did make comments about reigning in spending. Apparently, there are going to be strict spending limits. I mean, that is a good thing. He's saying the right things there, isn't he?

Tim Wilson: Well, this is classic of this government. Intent they might say something, reality in what they deliver is different. The Treasurer likes to talk about how he's found $114 billion of savings. He says with the next breath, but doesn't say it out loud, that they then went on to spend an additional $223 billion. So they like to talk up the savings, but they never actually deliver them. That's the problem. And that's why we continue to have an inflation problem—is they keep borrowing from the future, spending it today, and pouring debt petrol on the inflation fire.

Clinton Maynard: A couple of other issues for you when it comes to spending, Tim. The public service has increased in numbers by about 41,000 since Labor came to power. So it's now above 200,000—213,000. Suggestions over the weekend there'll be voluntary redundancies. What should that number be brought down to?

Tim Wilson: Oh, I'm not going to give a specific number, only because at the end of the day, we'll have to wait and see how many voluntary redundancies are accepted. I'm pretty pessimistic about the Treasurer achieving it. I mean, these are people's jobs, their livelihoods, and we understand that, but it's also part of the contributing factor of what's driving inflation. But it's not just Canberra public servants. One of the reasons we've got such a big problem with inflation is because the government keeps pouring money into programs like the NDIS, which are just a fiefdom of fraud and corruption. And all of that money is inflationary as well, and they're not classified as public sector jobs, but they're all fueled and funded by public spending. So we've got to have a much bigger conversation about the type of economy and country we want, not just seeking to put a specific number on public service jobs.

Clinton Maynard: Figures have also been released today showing the number of working-age people who rely on welfare now is 1.4 million. For a population of 27 million, that's an extraordinary number. How do you deal with the growth in welfare? Because it seems to be a culture amongst a lot of Australians.

Tim Wilson: And that's the thing. We can't allow this sort of cancerous culture of just dependency to seep in. So after the budget, I'll have quite a lot to say, particularly about how we rebuild as I've said, a self-starting resilient economic and social culture for our country, because I think we need to have a real wake-up about what's sustainable, because it's simply not acceptable to hand to the next generation a country poorer because we're not prepared to make tough decisions. But that's not a higher tax agenda, that's a growth and opportunity agenda where people see the value of working and putting themselves and trying to get themselves ahead.

Clinton Maynard: Would you consider a return of a real "work for the dole" scheme?

Tim Wilson: I'm not going to rule that out, because...

Clinton Maynard: Will you rule anything in, Tim?

Tim Wilson: No, no, well, these things have to work with my other shadow colleagues. But I do think it's important that work is correlated with people's improvement in lives and I don't believe in a sit-down economy.

Clinton Maynard: Just one last one for you. Farrer by-election this weekend. Do the Liberals have a chance?

Tim Wilson: We've always got a chance because we're on the ballot paper. We're not like the Prime Minister who's cowardly not running a candidate.

Clinton Maynard: Well, you actually make a real fair point. He gave you guys a whack last week for preferencing One Nation, but he's not running a candidate himself.

Tim Wilson: Well, exactly. And I mean, this is a bloke who likes to fire shots from the Lodge at everybody else, but he didn't have the guts or the courage to turn up to put a candidate on the ballot because, you know, if he gets a negative message, he doesn't want to hear that message. Increasingly he's got a bunker mentality and the Prime Minister needs to realize that when you close your ears, Australians increasingly see you for somebody who's not listening, not connected, not interested in the future of the country.

Clinton Maynard: Hey Tim, I know you're a bloke who can take the hits, and I think a lot of conservative voters have been heartened by much of what Angus Taylor and yourself have had to say since you've been elevated to these positions. But I just want to share one message I've got here from Danny. Danny says, "Tim's not offering solutions in this interview. Why can't he offer solutions?"

Tim Wilson: I actually have solutions, but I'm going to offer them after the budget because we're going to hear what the government's solutions are. We'll then have a look at the paperwork and then go forward and say this is how we think we can build a future of the economy.

Clinton Maynard: Well, the pressure will be on next week. Let's talk next week.

Tim Wilson: Okay, take care.

Clinton Maynard: Tim Wilson, who's the shadow treasurer.

[ENDS]