Monday, 19 October 2026

Topics: GST; the Coalition’s Tax Back Guarantee; ATO credit card ban; Snowy Hydro 2.0.

E&OE……………………..

Laura Jayes: Well, let's bring in the Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson, now. You heard part of that argument, I'm sure it's not the first time. Tim Wilson, was Angus Taylor too quick to rule it out? 

Tim Wilson: Firstly Laura, welcome to Brighton Beach in wonderful Victoria. Our focus is on making sure we drive tax reform that actually improves the situation for households and small businesses. Right now, we've got households whose heads are barely above financial water, small businesses with record insolvencies, and collapsing consumer confidence. If you want to have a conversation around tax reform, we've got one. Our Tax Back Guarantee is clearly focused on making sure inflation isn't the silent thief and increases income tax without passing a single law. 

Laura Jayes: Is that it? Is that all you're going to do? Is that reform? 

Tim Wilson: It’s cute, Laura. That's where we are presently, and we have a lot more we'll announce in the lead-up to the next election. But our focus is on how we empower Australians to get ahead. One of the challenges with the wonks, with the greatest of respect to them, is they're always looking at the most efficient way to raise taxes. They're not actually focused on how they empower citizens, families, and communities to be the pathway for a stronger country.

Laura Jayes: But if you want to deliver lasting income tax relief that is meaningful, and you get a budget back into a more sustainable setting, how do you do that without looking at proper reform around the GST?

Tim Wilson: Firstly, you start by stopping the wasteful spending. We know that we've got a consistent problem where the taxes of honest Australians are going to dishonest ends under the Albanese Government, and under some state governments too, particularly here in Victoria, which is governed by an organised crime cartel registered as a political party. Then you need to make sure you have a pathway of economic growth, which is focused on backing small businesses, and of course, the health of the overall wellbeing of the Australian economy to employ people to get ahead. Then we need to make sure that consumers are empowered so they have a pathway forward to drive the economy too. At every step of the way you've got to have the conversation, and it's an important one, but the answer of just increasing taxes isn't the solution, particularly when the economy is already so vulnerable.

Laura Jayes: Indeed. But I know that the GST is seen as a regressive tax, you can put safeguards in place. Just as a principle, what's fair about taxing more of what people earn rather than more of what they spend?

Tim Wilson: The problem we now have, Laura, is the government has poisoned the well around conversations around tax. When they went to the election and said 50 times over they weren't going to increase taxes, then of course did the exact opposite on the other side of the election, it's been very hard to have a conversation around tax reform because this government has burned all the trust that it once had. So, you need to make sure, if you want to have a conversation around tax reform, that it's backing Australians and understands that it's built on the Australian people trusting this government. That is now shredded, and our pathway is to focus on how we reduce the tax burden on households, particularly at this critical time.

Laura Jayes: So, you just don't think you have the political capital to be able to have this GST conversation right now? Is it off the table for this term, next term, forever? Or would you revisit it?

Tim Wilson: We’ve said during a cost of living crisis is that there is no basis to have this conversation. But we have a tax reform package that we are committed to, the Tax Back Guarantee, which makes sure that thresholds adjust with inflation, so income tax doesn't increase at the same time as inflation. The Albanese government's active inflation agenda is focused on stoking inflation, then of course increasing income taxes as wages rise, but real wages actually go backwards. They then tax that inflation and then spend it in a vicious cycle that's making Australians poorer.

Laura Jayes: Let's talk about what we learned on the weekend about what the government knew about the Tax Office and the surcharge issue. Do you have a problem with that timeline? I mean, we heard from the Assistant Treasurer saying, well, as soon as they knew that there was this kind of tension, that there was going to have a blowback, they acted. Do you buy that?

Tim Wilson: I don't accept that at all. We know, and the Assistant Treasurer now admitted, that they've known about this since July. They kept it secret from the small businesses of the country since July. A final decision may not have been made until late, but the Treasurer and the Assistant Treasurer were holding the hands of the Tax Office the whole way through. Now they've finally admitted that they've known about this all the way along and left small business high and dry. When I talk to small businesses around the country, what they tell me is that they're getting a lot of blowback, particularly from customers. So today we've released a poster that we're allowing small businesses to download from standwithsmall.org, which is about sending a message that they're not responsible for these price increases, it's the Albanese Government. You can download your poster at standwithsmall.org.

Laura Jayes: Okay. Well, I'm sure there'll be a lot of small businesses that do that. But on the Tax Office issue with the ATO now not passing on that surcharge essentially to businesses, who pays for it? It's the taxpayer, isn't it? Are you comfortable with that?

Tim Wilson: I'm not comfortable with how the government has managed this entire situation, where they introduced a surcharge ban claiming it was going to be a great win for consumers. It was all just built on a lie. Now we also know that there was a lie in how the government has managed it every step of the way. They've already said that they were going to absorb these costs by the taxpayer, but at every point, if the Albanese Government was just honest with the Australian people, they would admit that their surcharge ban has become a disaster.

Laura Jayes: So, what would you do then? Would you reverse it? Would you go back to how it was originally?

Tim Wilson: What we need is competition in different payment systems. This is one of the problems: the Albanese Government has knee-capped competition by the way they've approached this. Competition will drive prices down, it will help small business, and it will make sure consumers pay less. Instead, what we've now had is an inflationary price hike essentially driven by the government. They don't seem to understand that every time they make one of these decisions, the price passes through to the consumer, and struggling small businesses have no choice.

Laura Jayes: Okay, but again, how would you fix it? Competition between whom?

Tim Wilson: Competition between the different providers. We have banks charging supermarkets preferential rates over small businesses, where because of the way the government has gone about this, there's now a kneecapping of innovators who would reduce prices and competition for payment systems. That leaves small business with the bill, consumers with the bill, and all because the Albanese Government deceived the Australian community that if they introduced this surcharge ban, prices would drop.

Laura Jayes: Okay, sure. But in the meantime, if you can't create that competition, would you just go back to allowing businesses to be able to charge that surcharge? Because at least it's transparent.

Tim Wilson: Well, this is the challenge: we're not in government, as you know, Laura. The Albanese Government has already left a train wreck of consequences for small businesses who, frankly, have already just increased their prices to absorb the cost and pass it through to customers. This is something that we can't undo. That's the problem. The only way we're going to be able to get prices down now is through competition, and of course, the more we incentivise that. On the weekend, Mathias Cormann gave a speech talking about the importance of small business competition, and it's very important that we do have that competition to get prices down for consumers.

Laura Jayes: Okay. So the ATO credit card ban surcharge, that leeway has been extended. But do you think it should be permanent, just on the ATO alone?

Tim Wilson: We think the ATO needs to make sure they get things sorted for small business. At the moment, they've got a 12-month reprieve. We'll have to see how things are going to adjust off the back of that, but it's also going to be off the consequence of small business. Because what it's created is a liquidity crisis, cash flow crisis for so many small businesses. We know that in the lead-up to this change, small business was already being forced to absorb the cost of payday super. We know they're already going to be facing a situation of record-low consumer confidence and small business confidence, and now this has just been added on top of it. Small business at least has some breathing room now to adjust, but it's not, ultimately, a permanent solution.

Laura Jayes: Tim, just before I let you go to enjoy beautiful Brighton Beach there this morning, I want to ask you about something that I think Chris Bowen's about to confirm, and that is another Snowy Hydro cost blowout. This time it's looking at around $40 billion with transmission costs added. Is this a legacy that your side also owns?

Tim Wilson: This is a project that's been going on for a long time now, but the reality is it's one that has continued to unfold, and the government hasn't been able to solve it. But the transmission problem is not just one isolated to one project. It's a consequence of becoming a renewables-only approach of energy that Chris Bowen absolutely owns, and because of that, the prices for a lot of small businesses and families continue to rise.

Laura Jayes: Tim Wilson, good to see you. Check in soon.

Tim Wilson: Thank you.

[ENDS]