Peter Stefanovic: It's good to see you this morning Tim. So spending about $50 billion now more expensive than Medicare. It's approaching our defence budget. So is it fair to say still that spending is out of control?

Tim Wilson MP: I think it's extremely fair to say that the NDIA themselves have estimated that around 10% of the NDIS is going towards fraud and corruption, and that's not including, you know, a lot of I think what people would question priorities in terms of where the money's going legally. You know we all support a service that supports people with a disability. But it needs to be done in a sustainable way, and it's clearly not sustainable and the government has acknowledged that. What's distressing is how little action has been taken, and it has led to this point.

Peter Stefanovic: So the action that the Health Minister is taking, anyways, is stricter caps, price reviews, getting more kids with autism off the scheme. With that said do you think a total 5% cut to its budget is even possible?

Tim Wilson MP: Well I think what they're really talking about is 5% cut to the growth in the size of the budget. That still sees costs continue to compound into the future. When we know 10% is, by the own agency responsible for it, reporting it goes towards fraud and corruption, I don't think 5% obviously is sufficient when 10% is going towards fraud or corruption. At least addressing that problem is very important first.

Peter Stefanovic: Would you support means testing? I've asked a few members of the Coalition this question this week but would you support means testing because it's been suggested by the OECD and the IMF?

Tim Wilson MP: Yeah well they're international institutions. We should make rules appropriate for our country. I think we've got to be very careful, about looking about how you would design a scheme on means testing. I'm not ruling it in or ruling it out because we're talking about people with a disability and often just because people's parents or families may have wealth, it doesn't automatically equate to the position that's available for that type of support. So I'm not going to commit to it here, but I'm obviously very mindful of what we need to do to reduce the cost, particularly on the fraud and corruption piece, which would be the primary and urgent focus.

Peter Stefanovic: Okay, let's get to the Prime Minister. Ruben just talked about this trip to Asia that's coming up this week. How hopeful are you that the Prime Minister can shore up more fuel supplies from our northern neighbours?

Tim Wilson MP: Well this trip seems to me to be a bit of a panic trip by the Prime Minister. They clearly missed the boat on fuel supply. We had three days where the Energy Minister completely denied that there was even going to be an issue until he was forced to admit that we had a crisis. You know while the Prime Minster is out there saying to Australians don't panic buy that's the sort of behaviour that he seems to be engaging with because they got caught completely flat-footed. They missed the boat on this issue and Australians are now paying through higher prices.

Peter Stefanovic: Right, it can't hurt things though right? By keeping our relationships tight so we can perhaps get more fuel in exchange for LNG?

Tim Wilson MP: I'm not arguing that. I mean, of course, at these critical times, we need to secure our supply. And of course I encourage the government to do that but we encourage the Government to take that as a priority from the outset. What they actually did was ignored it. They were in denial and missed the boat. And so now they're of course having to take even stronger action to try and cover up for that.

Peter Stefanovic: The Queensland Premier wants to try and future-proof potential future price shocks by asking the federal government to approve expansion for drilling for oil at the Taroom Trough in Queensland. Do you think as a matter of urgency that this should be granted?

Tim Wilson MP: Well I looked at the proposal but it seems pretty obvious to me and I think to every Australian at the moment that we need some component of sovereign supply. What this government hasn't done is hedge risk, and that's what's led us to find ourselves exposed and vulnerable in a situation where the government has missed the boat on this issue. So you know we should absolutely explore those options and we should do it on considered proposals.

Peter Stefanovic: And how do you get around though. I mean there would be blowback, particularly in your seat that would no doubt face a Teal threat in the years ahead, environmentalists, green groups as well. How do you around that despite the urgency that it now appears that we are facing on an oil and fuel front?

Tim Wilson MP: I think you're fundamentally misreading it. Firstly, I make decisions in the national interest. And the national interests is we have a sovereign, secure supply of fuel for Australians, for industry, so that we continue to support growth and, you know, Australians don't have to continue to endure the cost of Labor's active inflation agenda. And if somebody wants to go out there and say they're prepared to sacrifice Australian households as part of their claim to be a candidate, then they should feel free. That's not going to be me.

Peter Stefanovic: Alright, Tim Wilson, we'll leave it there. Appreciate it though. We'll chat again next week while we're off to a break.