Tim Wilson Takes On Treasury Portfolio In New Liberal Shadow Cabinet

The new Liberal leader Angus Taylor has announced his frontbench in Sydney, saying: “This is a team that blends proven experience with the next generation of Coalition talent.”

“The team is designed to do two key things. One, prosecute Labor’s failures … and two, ensure the Coalition is ready to govern and change Australia for the better.”

Goldstein MP Tim Wilson, who is gay and made headlines for proposing to his now husband in parliament in 2017 during the marriage equality debate, has been given the treasury portfolio, and has started the appointment by pointing out the cost-of-living crisis impacting people around the country. The shadow minister says the government is responsible for the issue impacting families and small businesses.

“We’re going to do everything we can over the next two years … so that you see the pathway forward and that you want to see a change of government,” Wilson says. “The pathway forward for achieving economic hope in Australia is a change of government and the end of the Albanese government. We are going to deliver that,” he says.

He will also be working with Tasmanian conservative MP Claire Chandler, who will be taking on the finance portfolio, and who has voted consistently against transgender children and young people having access to gender affirming healthcare, and introduced a private bill that would exclude trans and gender diverse kids and adults from sports.

While Tim Wilson has been an advocate for marriage equality in the past, he’s also won acclaim from the Australian Christian Lobby for defending the rights of religious groups to discriminate against LGBTQIA+ people.

“The Coalition’s lurch to the right to head off One Nation and its mimicry of Trump-like policies on immigration, bode poorly for LGBTIQA+ Australians,” says Rodney Croome, Just.Equal spokesperson.

“We call on LGBTIQA+ members of the Coalition and their allies, including gay Shadow Cabinet members like Tim Wilson, to meet with Mr Taylor and make the case against anti-LGBTIQA+ fearmongering.”