Tim Wilson on the budget’s hidden hits on young Australians

The federal government’s fifth budget contains major, controversial changes to the tax arrangements for housing. The government has argued that the changes will ensure young people will have better access to the housing market.

But Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson says the Coalition is flatly opposed to the changes, accusing the government of intergenerational warfare.

Joining us on today’s podcast, Wilson said Labor hadn’t done enough to return the budget to surplus, despite its boasts of $64 billion in savings, including cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and other programs:

This government has been dragged kicking and screaming to stop things like the fraud and corruption in the NDIS, the phantom children being enrolled in childcare services […] as well as of course the $15 billion given to organised crime through the [Construction Forestry and Maritime Employees Union].

This government does not respect Australian taxpayers, nor their money. And until you have that basic test of respect, you’re not going to get the budget back in surplus.

On opposing Labor’s tax changes, Wilson argued that’s because they would increase pressure on rents and “kneecap” young Australians who wanted to get ahead.

We absolutely believe that young Australians should be able to get into the housing market. The first place to start with that is not to put upward pressure on rents, because young Australians tend to rent before they, of course, go on and buy their first home. The government’s own budget documents say these tax changes will increase rents, so they’re going to take from young Australians even before they’re first home buyers.

[…] And then when they go and buy their first home, the government’s own budget documents say that these tax changes will lead to lower numbers of homes being built, 35,000 over the next decade.

[…] And the government own budget document say there’s going to be an overshoot on migration numbers, meaning higher demand. So lower supply, higher demand. It’s actually going to have the complete reverse effect in terms of reducing house prices, or making them more accessible for first home buyers.

[…] There are so many people in Australia who woke up, went to bed last night, thinking that they were in a country that actually encouraged and incentivised aspiration. And instead what we have now is a government that’s kneecapping young Australians who are putting their effort to get ahead.

On One Nation, Wilson said “parties of the fringe” sell people easy solutions and make selling traditional economics more diffcult:

I think that’s true of the extremist Greens, and of course you have other parties like [One Nation], who in a kind of pop consumer way think they can sell people anything without the consequences of government.

So yes, I do believe that the rise of parties of the fringe make it harder to sell mainstream messages. But that comes down to leadership, and giving people a sense of confidence about where we’re going and what we’re trying to build. I think the next election […] there’s going to a lot of stark choices.