28 April 2026

Transcript - Press conference, Canberra

Topics: Budget test

E&OE

The Hon Tim Wilson

Good morning, everybody. In two weeks time the Federal Treasurer is going to deliver the Albanese government’s fifth budget. It's a budget that is going to be delivered against the backdrop of inflation that is fuelled by this government.

As the Reserve Bank governor identified in her press conference in announcing the last interest rate rise, the interest rate increase Australians experienced last month was a consequence of data of inflation data from the second half of last year. The government’s active inflation agenda has been the cause of the inflation crisis and declining living standards of Australians. Since then, we've had a global conflict in the context of Iran. That, of course, is adding further pressure onto Australian households that is yet to be revealed.

In two weeks the government is going to announce its fifth budget and in it, it needs to give clarity to Australians about how it is going to build Australia's future. It needs to meet three simple tests.

The first Test is to make sure that improves living standards of Australians.

The second test is to make sure that it restores Australian security.

And the third test is to restore honest government for Australians.

What we've had from the Albanese government to date is a very clear active inflation agenda which is corroded living standards, which has made it harder for the government to focus its priorities on securing Australia, its interests in with what the government itself admit is the most dangerous geostrategic and strategic environment since the Second World War. And we've seen a government that has poured debt petrol on the inflation fire through waste, miss management and tolerating fraud and corruption.

We've seen this and they’ve even admitted through the National Disability Insurance Scheme, through childcare where there's been charges for phantom children all the way through to increasingly the model that's of corruption and fraud that's existed around the NDIS being replicated on home, age care packages.

And this government continues to refuse to even audit or fine whether $15 billion of public money has found its way into organised crime, the hands of organised crime through the CFMEU Labor cartel.

Every time the government tolerates fraud and corruption, that debt borrowed to finance inflation today and this government seems to have no interest in what it's going to do to grow the economy and back the self starters from Australia. So far all we've seen is new taxes, whether it's on private health insurance or on age care services.

But there's also their proposals we read from leaks in the government's budget bunker.

Leaks from the government's budget bunker suggests that they're going to apply much higher capital gains tax across all asset classes. So Australians own shares, they'll be hit. If Australians own property, they'll be hit. Particularly for Australian small businesses, they will be hit.

This government doesn't seem interested in building a ladder of opportunity for the next generation of Australians.

This government is focused on pulling up the ladder of opportunity behind the baby boomers and denying young Australians who want to get ahead, who want a pathway to set up their own life and their own success. This government wants a nation of people who are dependent, not an Australia of proud, independent and confident young Australians looking to the future.

And as Claire Chandler, the shadow finance minister will outline, the greatest form of intergenerational theft is a ballooning public debt that denies young Australians their chance, their agency and their opportunity to shine. Claire

Senator Claire Chandler

Thanks Tim. Well, the Albanese government is sitting on an almost trillion dollar debt.

Put that into perspective, every minute, Australians are paying $50,000 just on the interest to repay that debt and the Albanese government has no plan to start paying off that debt bomb.

We know that government spending is at its highest level outside of recession within my lifetime.

It is out growing the economy twice as fast as the economy is growing. And indeed last financial year, it was growing four times faster than the rest of the economy. And it is my generation, Tim’s generation, and Australians younger than us who will inevitably be paying for this debt with higher taxes unless the government can get that debt under control.

But the Albanese government has no plan to stop paying that debt off. They have no plan to look very carefully at government spending across all government agencies and start asking themselves where the fat can be trimmed. And like I say, it is going to be my generation and younger Australians who are going to be left to pay on that debt.

Journalist

Just a question to Tim.

Angus Taylor this morning is announcing the opposition’s plan when it comes to increasing Australians fuel stocks. Why should Australians trust him and your party when it comes to fuel security given he was the architect behind storing fuel in Texas.

Wilson

Because we were the party that made sure that we kept our refineries open. This government has managed this fuel crisis by managing the crisis while we’re focused on is how we build onshore capacity, just like we protected and save domestic refining capacity so that we can be in a position to secure Australia’s national interest into the future. The world has changed. There is no point pretending otherwise. The government admits that.

We acknowledge that and of course we’re watching it unfold in front of us. The question for government is to decide how it wants to respond. Do we want to bring build up Australia’s security, one of our key budget tests, and make sure we have sovereign capacity, not just in terms of production, storage, but refining so that we can secure Australia’s long term national interests in this increasingly complex geostrategic environment?

Journalist

Do you think storing fuel in Texas was a mistake?

Wilson

That's all part of historical discussion. I mean, if the reality is during covid a lot of fragilities were exposed. The most important thing is to make sure that we secure supply. The Albanese government is currently importing fuel from the United States. What we want to do is make sure we have a long term strategic and resilient solution to Australia's energy needs whether it’s liquid fuels or it’s domestic capacity for things like electricity and the re- industrialisation of our country. There has to be a point where we acknowledge the world has changed. We are responding to it and making sure we now lead through it rather than the Albanese government’s obsession of renewables only, which is leaving Australia poorer and weaker.

Journalist

Tim, how much more would it cost to get Australia on that 60 day fuel reserve? Matt Canavan quoted earlier today a figure of around $6 billion. Is that correct? And how much would a Coalition government pay?

Wilson

Well, there's a gap between the difference between what will be provided in terms of loan facilities and to make sure that we support industry to be able to do it. So out to 2030, around $80 billion to be able to secure that capacity, but that's true financing mechanisms. The focus is on how we make sure that we get the capacity to be able to store working with private industry because they’ the ones who are going to be part of that conversation.

Journalist

Sorry, sorry. You're talking about on one hand the government spending too much money, you're talking about debt going through the roof. And on the other hand, you're now talking about $80 billion shoring up fuel supplies. How do you how do you kind of square to?

Wilson

The gap is between understanding what we're actually doing and how we're trying to finance and provide the resource is that we need to be able to secure that supply and to make sure that we work with private industry. Because it's actually about making sure we have the resources we need to be able to do so to make sure that we have the capacity to be able to do so. It's not a direct budget spend.

Journalist

Tim can I just confirm, where that $80 billion come from?

Wilson

Sorry. Sorry $800 million.

Journalist

So that gets you $1 billion extra dollars. How many extra days will that actually amount?

Wilson

So the increase would be to increase the capacity from 30 days to 60 days to secure the resource is and the fuel supply that Australia needs. Of course that's out to the 2030 time frame because we realise that this is going to be a progressive step.

Journalist

When your party announced or called for the fuel excise to be cut you talked about taking the money that that would cost away from schemes like a home battery scheme and other renewables. Is there a plan this time around with this scheme to cut funds or bring the funds in from another programme elsewhere?

Wilson

We’re very focused on making sure we provide the offsets necessary. So Labor is focused on its delivery of Net Zero by 2050. Our focus is on what how we reprioritize that money to be able to achieve a capacity to be able to deliver our resources today and to be able to secure a liquid fuel supply today. So we’ll be looking at the measures that the government is taking to build out its capacity to 2050 while we will focus on the resources we need today through the loan facilities.

Journalist

So big potentially cuts to financing renewables projects to help with this spent here?

Wilson

Well, our focus on how we make sure we build out the capacity for Australians needs to die for liquid fuels as well as through electricity for this country and so will have more to announce in terms of our energy capacity in time. But the most important thing is that we're addressing the desperate need Australia has now to secure its liquid fuel supply, which is the urgent and immediate problem Australia faces now and into the immediate future.

Journalist

Tim, can I ask you about Mark Irving’s resignation? You were a strong campaigner against corruption in the CFMEU in your previous portfolio. How do you assess Mark Irving’s legacy as CFMEU in Australia?

Wilson

Well, I'm not really going to comment on this this time. He's obviously had a difficult time. But what we know is that a number of senior CFMEU officials have been sacked as a consequence of misconduct and more revelations are coming up following Mark Irving’s departure. The most important thing is that corruption is properly addressed and it's clear that there's a lot more work that needs to be done. While I think this is more disturbing is that the government has paid no attention to how it was going to order it and secure funding that has been provided to organised crimes, CFMEU Labor cartel. And that's incredibly important for making sure that public money doesn’t go to dishonest ends.

Journalist

Just on the NDIS you mentioned before you coalition would look at where the spend is going in that way what would the coalition want to be doing beyond what Labor announced last week in terms of keeping that within the growth targets?

Wilson

The first thing we're doing is making sure we cut down properly on the fraud and corruption within National Disability Insurance Scheme. The NDIA themselves have conservatively estimated that 10% of the spending within the NDIS is going towards fraud and corruption. So we would take that far more seriously and make sure that we're addressing that forcefully. Of course, Melissa Macintosh will have more to announce on that, but it's incredibly important that we get that foreign corruption under wraps, rather than tolerating its growth as the government has.

Journalist

Can you give us any idea though, how you would do that?

Wilson

Well, I have my own views that will do that and that this will be up for the shadow NDIS minister to do so. But this government has tolerated up to 10% of $5 billion of NDIS funding to go towards fraud and corruption. We don't consider acceptable and that is honest Australians money going to dishonest means.

Journalist

Given the government need for the Coalition’s support to pass these laws, especially in the Senate, how would you negotiate go?

Wilson

Oh, that's a matter for the leader and of course the shadow minister for the NDIS to give you answers to that.

Journalist
Can I also just get you on your introduction, you sort of comment, made a few comments on CGT negative gearing and said that the government was pulling up the ladder of opportunity from young Australians. Is that a confirmation of the Coalition won’t support potential negative gearing in the CGT reforms?

Wilson

Well, we’ve had so far as leaks out of the budget bunker which goes into detail of what the government is proposing to do. Let’s wait and see what they do on budge night. But there’s essentially a clearance talk choice between us and the Labor government. The Labor government’s focus is on how they pull up the ladder of opportunity from young Australians and secures the position of baby boomers.

Our focus is on how we grow the economic pie and give young Australians a chance to get ahead. That’s not through higher taxes.