Opposition Leader Angus Taylor ruled out raising the goods and services tax on Sunday, while welcoming the prospect of former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg returning to politics. “We will not be raising the GST in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. That we won’t do,” Taylor said on Insiders. “We’ll put Australia and Australians first, but we won’t be raising taxes.”
Taylor’s comments came as he defended the Coalition’s newly released migration policy. It proposes cutting temporary migration by 650,000 places over four years while adding 100,000 skilled migrants. The Coalition says those arrivals would earn more and pay more tax, offsetting lost revenue. The party says it will release further details closer to the election.
Frydenberg Stirs the Pot
On Saturday, Frydenberg published excerpts from his upcoming memoir, “A Grateful Son,” in The Australian. The passages covered his election defeat four years ago. The former Kooyong MP, described as a leadership frontrunner, fuelled speculation about a possible run at the next election as he set out his vision for Australia.
He called on the Liberal Party to “reclaim” the centre of politics, arguing Canberra lacked political courage. His proposals included policy changes on energy and AI, as well as a plan to direct a portion of state GST revenue based on how many homes were built.
Asked if Frydenberg’s return would make him feel welcome or wary, Taylor said he needed “every good leader” heading into the next federal election. “People will play different roles ... whether it’s just liking Facebook and Instagram posts all the way through to being a candidate,” he said. “But we’ve all got to mobilise, and I welcome Josh playing whatever role he’s able to play.”
The GST proposal, though, won’t get support. “I’m a fiscal conservative. I believe in lower taxes, and that’s why we’ll be giving the tax-back guarantee, lower income taxes for Australians without raising the GST,” Taylor said.
The Migration Plan and Its Critics
The migration policy has already faced criticism. Business, aged care, education and construction sectors have raised economic concerns. Taylor said the plan would be “budget neutral,” but acknowledged the Parliamentary Budget Office hasn’t officially costed it because of legislative “constraints.”
“In terms of analysis, there are limitations on what the parliamentary office can do because of its legislation. It cannot model directly on Labor’s policies so we had to give it assumptions to work with,” he said. “That is a constraint, but as we approach the election, we won’t have that constraint.”
Aged care relies heavily on temporary visas. Taylor said a transitional arrangement would allow workers to remain on their existing visas for longer. He based his wider case on productivity. “If you cut numbers and raise standards, you can maintain budget neutrality. And you can strengthen the economy because the average income, the average productivity of the person coming into this country rises,” he said. “What’s happening under Labor is they are driving economic growth through population growth alone.”
Net overseas migration dropped to 292,100 people in the year to March. Labor is pursuing targets of 245,000 for this financial year and 225,000 the following year.
Government Response
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek called Taylor’s interview a “car crash” and asked why he couldn’t provide full economic modelling. “It’s disappointing that a once major party of government can’t answer basic questions about the economic impact of their policies,” she said. “If you can unite big business and small businesses and farmers and unions, saying your policy will smash the economy, maybe it’s time to go back to the drawing board.”
Immigration Minister Tony Burke offered a different criticism, warning that bridging visa cuts on the scale the Coalition proposes would require heavy public spending. “They need to let us know how many beds, how many compliance officers, and where the new detention centres are going,” he told News24. “The numbers they are talking about, we are talking billions and billions of dollars I suspect.”
Why This Matters:
Taylor’s refusal to touch the GST gives the Coalition a clear fiscal marker: lower income taxes, no new consumption tax burden, and a pitch centred on productivity rather than headcount. That contrasts with a growth model he says relies on population alone. The weak point is the missing independent costing. Until the Parliamentary Budget Office can model the full policy, “budget neutral” remains a claim, not a verified figure, and the government has already seized on that gap. Voters assessing the plan will want hard numbers on revenue, compliance and aged care capacity. The Coalition has promised those figures before the election. It will need to deliver.