Peta Credlin:
Lots to get across. Joining me now, the deputy executive director at the IPA, Dan Wild, and Sky News contributor Karalee Katsambanis, and they’re with me in the studio, which is a rare treat. Before we get to gas, I want to get to gas because a lot about that today. The NDI is, call me cynical, right? I’ve had plenty of time to look through the announcement and I’ve looked at some of the budget phasing out of last year and I look at the deterioration of the budget position. I don’t reckon they’re going to do a lot of it, Dan. Let’s be honest, I don’t think they’re going to do a lot of it, Dan. I think these are announcements on the long finger. They’re 18 months away, but it’ll enable them on budget night in two weeks time to basically book a $30 billion plus saving and pretend the budget down the tracks in a lot better shape than it really will be.
Daniel Wild:
Well, I think that’s probably right. We know that this government has been motivated by politics above all else, so they’re not going to do something unless there’s a political angle. Now, anything that can be done to reign the NDIS in is a good thing. It is a complete monster.
Peta Credlin:
Agree.
Daniel Wild:
And if the action matches the rhetoric, then good on the government for doing something genuine. But as you say, the devil is always in the detail. They haven’t left themselves with a lot of run up time to actually get this right. And the reality is that they’re unlikely to take a political decision that’s going to have any short-term political implications ahead of an election which will probably be in about 18 months now.
Peta Credlin:
So that’s my point, right? So they want to ram it through in budget week, the legislation, they want to ram it through. If they were serious, but allow good scrutiny in the legislation. And two, none of this comes in until after the next election.
Daniel Wild:
And they also want to put the pump on the coalition politically. So that might be why they’re not giving them a lot of time. So Melissa McIntosh, the opposition spokesperson, has suggested that they probably wouldn’t support these changes, at least based on what I’ve seen her say. So it’s really going to put the coalition under the pump on what are they going to do about it.
Peta Credlin:
They don’t want people [inaudible 00:01:51] to see that these are smoke and mirrors, in my view. They also don’t want the lobby to get out there and pull these things apart. If they were serious, right now they’re saying that they will have another look at the participants. But if they were serious, they would require the registration of every single provider, but 90% of them are not registered and that’s not planned to change.
Karalee Katsambanis:
And that’s the problem because it’s the dodgy middleman providers. And there are loads of examples. We’ve had lots of people that have given the examples and you see the things in courts that they’re nabbed and they’ve done and they’ve got all this stuff going on. The really sad thing is the 160,000 people that are being kicked off, and the amount of parents that have come out to say they feel guilty that taxpayers think that they’re ripping off the system for their children. They’re the ones that feel guilty. You nailed it. As always, Peter, they need to go after the dodgy providers. People should be registered. There’ve been some outrageous things that people have been able to think.
Peta Credlin:
[inaudible 00:02:52]. We’ve all seen the reports. What electorates are they in?
Karalee Katsambanis:
Exactly. What electorates are they in? And the thing is, go there. The evidence is there. There are numerous cases before the courts of the dodgy providers. Go after them. These poor people, they’ve caused more anxiety for parents whose children do need the scheme, do need the NDIS. It was a ridiculous scheme in the first place because it was allowed to get out of control. There were warning signs all the way. People kept saying that, and they’ve just let it get out. There are more than $50 billion, more than the defence budget. But as you say, they’re not actually getting to the nub of it. It’s the providers that need to be registered. You know what? If a provider isn’t doing anything wrong, they’ll be happy to put themselves up to be registered, won’t they?
Peta Credlin:
Let’s talk gas, because if you listen to a lot of the commentary out there at the moment, gas companies don’t pay tax in Australia. Now, I looked at these protests of activists in WA, protesting against the Browse Project over there. And one of the things they were saying there was, “Let’s have them pay more tax.” The reporter says to them, “Well, they mightn’t run a project in Australia. It might not be economic. They’ll pull out.” Well, that’s a good thing. The lefty influencers, they want the taxes so high that gas projects in Australia don’t go ahead, but they pay a lot of tax. They pay company tax in Australia, don’t they?
Daniel Wild:
Well, they do, and they pay other taxes as well. And obviously, you’re not getting any tax from an industry that doesn’t exist anymore. So which one is it? Do you want the tax or do you want to rub out the industry because you can’t have both? We all know what this is about, which is continuing to rig the market to give an unfair advantage to wind and solar. That’s why they wanted to rub out coal.
Peta Credlin:
And that’s why they hate gas.
Daniel Wild:
That’s why they hate it.
Peta Credlin:
That’s why they hate gas.
Daniel Wild:
Because it’s a competitor. Now, for many, many years, elements of the gas industry were happy to throw the coal industry to the dogs. They were saying, “Well, that’s okay. The activists are going after coal, that’s fine, because that’s good for gas.” Because they have a bigger market share that way. It was always going to be the case that first they’d go after coal, then they’d go after gas. And that’s exactly what is happening. And I think it’s a message to industry that you have to be willing to engage in these debates with a long-term perspective on what will benefit the nation. This is what business leaders used to do so well in this country. And sometimes they become a bit sectional, a bit occupied with their own turf. So I think it’s an example of you’ve got to stay in the fight if you want your industry to survive.
Karalee Katsambanis:
That’s to say though, sorry, I was in Western Australia during that time, state elections and the last federal election, no business people from the gas industry or fossil fuel came out against Labour. They never put their colours to the mass and said, “Stop.” They were happy to go on the bandwagon. All right? Captivated by the activists like Stockholm Syndrome. It’s a message that these fossil fuel things, they’re coming after you. It’s like feeding the crocodile. Eventually, the crocodile is going to eat you. And WA is a case in point. It’s very, very separate. It’s the only state with a separate domestic gas reservation. But come on, wake up industry. Because these activists are captivating everyone, as you say, trillion dollars. Wind, solar.
Your interview with Peter Costello this week nailed it. These other countries think we are mad. We have got so many resources in this country. Somebody needs to fly the flag. These CEOs of these companies need to fly the flag and say, “Enough. We’re doing this.” Where are their backbones as well? Everybody else seems to be propping them up. The Liberal Party, the Coalition, they need to rise to the occasion because we’ve got a whole generation of young people that are just carried along by these activists from school to uni to whatever. Come out and be proactive. Have the guts like you do on this programme, like people say like I do, like you do as well, and explain to these children that are coming up in their teenage years what life was like 20 odd years ago.
Peta Credlin:
I do think on some of these issues, we are cutting through, right?
Karalee Katsambanis:
Oh no, we are.
Peta Credlin:
Yeah.
Karalee Katsambanis:
But you need to keep reinforcing it.
Peta Credlin:
The fight about renewables has been a 10-year fight. Tried taking this on 10 years ago. Now people understand that they see the green activists, the true environmentalists coming out against the desecration of pristine national parks and coastlines. I think the worm’s turning on this. And I must say too, with the Liberal Party in Victoria, the worm is turning there. Those comments from Jess Wilson, really strong today. Not only would she not backing this gender-neutral toilet rubbish in the construction code, but if elected, and Labour puts it in any way, she’s going to repeal it down.
Karalee Katsambanis:
Good.
Peta Credlin:
Hallelujah. You’re a dad. Would you be happy with one of your children in a toilet down a corridor at 10 o’clock at night with blokes in there?
Daniel Wild:
No, of course not. And I don’t think any parent would. And this is common sense. It’s good from Jess Wilson and Victorian Liberals. I think men don’t want this, women don’t want this. The only people who want it are the woke activists. And the other problem, and this is a point that was made in the reporting on it is this is being embedded, the gender-neutral toilets into the National Construction Code. The code is there to have things like safety and fire standards. It’s not a tool or a mechanism to engage in activism when it comes to the construction of public services, for example, bathrooms. So it’s just absolutely bonkers of an idea, and it’s great to see the Victorian Liberals have a bit of a backbone on this one.
Peta Credlin:
It wasn’t there either when I went drawling through the website today. In 2024 and May 2024, they were saying more toilets for women, females, they say it in the document, and less toilets for men. They wanted the ratio heavily in the women’s favour. That’s now changed. So some things happened in and around the last couple of months that they’ve gone down this path. So we’ll watch it closely, and good on Jess. Thank you to you both.
Karalee Katsambanis:
Thank you.
Peta Credlin:
Have a lovely weekend. All right…
This transcript of Daniel Wild on Credlin Sky News Australia from 23 April 2026 has been edited for clarity.
