As Labor leaves an opening, Coalition takes the wrong path

September 7, 2026 — 5:00am

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Let’s start with the good. Last week, asked by the ABC’s Sally Sara about the revenue boost from the Coalition’s new tobacco policy, shadow treasurer Tim Wilson was able to explain it would be $2 billion a year. But then came the surprise: asked to give more detail, specifically on the budgetary impact of the policy’s vaping aspect, Wilson said he didn’t have the number in front of him. Not a huge sin, perhaps, but also not really very much to ask, on the day a major policy was being released, of a man who wants to be treasurer.

Then came the second surprise. Asked about economic conditions, Wilson said: “What we can’t allow to continue to happen is for the government to stoke inflation because it’s their pathway to secretly raise tax revenue. Their active inflation agenda is focused on stoking inflation, then taxing the inflation, then spending the inflation because they know that it’s a pathway to sneak more tax from Australian hip pockets into their own revenue.”

Wilson has been saying things in this vicinity for a while. The “active inflation” phrase isn’t bad, turning something dry and abstract into something concrete for which the government deserves blame. But now Wilson seemed to be arguing that Labor was deliberately (somewhat sinisterly) keeping inflation high so that it could (secretly) raise revenue and spend it.

Come again? Remember now that the government suffered significant political damage in its first term from inflation. It is now suffering significant damage from inflation again. With Wilson’s latest formulation, he seemed to enter the realm of conspiracy theory, suggesting his opponents were doing all this for eventual........

© Brisbane Times