MELISSA MCINTOSH:
Good morning, everyone. I’m Melissa McIntosh, the member for Lindsay. Welcome to Penrith and to JK Williams. One of the exciting things that I like about a business like this is that they’re supporting local jobs – 200 employees because of this business alone. In Western Sydney we’re backing tradies. We’ve got some young apprentices here. We’re backing local projects like Western Sydney Airport, Dunheved Road, which I secured $163 million for from the Treasurer and the Prime Minister, and we’re backing local jobs. I’m really pleased to be here today with the Treasurer of Australia, my colleague and friend Josh Frydenberg, and Scott Hartog of JK Williams. And over to you, Scott. Thank you.
SCOTT HARTOG:
Thank you. We’d like to welcome the Treasurer to our family‑owned business that thrives in Western Sydney. We’ve been based in Western Sydney for over 60 years now, and it was thanks to JobKeeper that we managed to keep going through the pandemic. And thanks to the instant asset write‑off, we’ve been able to keep investing in our company moving forward. Thank you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thanks very much. Thanks very much, Scott, for the invitation to be here with you and to meet your team and to hear about your exciting plans to continue to grow and invest in your business and to hear how JobKeeper helped get you through what was a pretty challenging time and how you’re using the other tax incentives to grow your business. To Melissa, thank you so much for having me here. You’re a wonderful advocate for your local community, a very strong representative here in Lindsay, and the work that you’ve done on Dunheved Road, work you continue to do in creating tens of thousands of jobs with our government in Western Sydney Airport and, of course, how you continue to advocate for lower taxes, which is good news for people and families right across your community. Today I wanted to make three key points: the first is our focus, the Morrison government’s focus, is on creating new jobs. The Labor Party and, more particularly, the shadow treasurer, said the biggest test of the Morrison government’s management of the pandemic will be what happens to the unemployment rate. And we’ve seen the unemployment rate come down to a 13‑year low of 4.2 per cent. In fact, it’s the equal fourth lowest unemployment rate ever since the ABS began their monthly series back in 1978. Australia is on the cusp of an historic opportunity to see the unemployment rate sustained in the low 4s for only the second time since the 1970s, and that would be a remarkable achievement that so many Australians can be proud of. But we’re continuing to invest in more jobs. And we’ve seen since the Coalition came to government 1.7 million more Australians in work, including 1 million more women. And programs like the wage subsidy for apprenticeships is actually now seeing a record number – around 220,000 – trade apprentices in work, and we’ve met some of them here today. The second point I wanted to make is that as a government our focus is on rewarding effort, encouraging aspiration, allowing more Australians to keep more of what they earn. And here in Lindsay more than 70,000 people are going to benefit from our tax cuts over the course of this year. That’s a huge number of people, and if you are a tradie or you’re a teacher, a nurse, on $60,000 a year, you will pay $2,160 less tax this year compared to what you would have paid under the Labor Party. Around $30 billion to more than 11 million Australians has been delivered in tax relief in just the last few years alone. The third point I wanted to make is around the strength of our economy. And just yesterday the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s reaffirmed Australia’s AAA credit rating. Australia is one of only nine countries in the world to have a AAA credit rating from the three leading credit rating agencies – Moody’s, Fitch and S&P. And, again, S&P have reaffirmed the strength of our recovery. Despite everything that’s been thrown at us with the pandemic, we are seeing a strong recovery and they’ve praised the fiscal discipline that Australia had going into the pandemic and the economic reforms that Australian governments are now undertaking across the board. We’ve also seen today data that shows our budget position is improving despite the many challenges we face, whether it’s in supply chains or, of course, in terms of our health system. Our budget in the first six months of this financial year is $24.5 billion better than expected was when I released the budget in May of last year. I repeat that – in the first six months of this financial year the budget is $24.5 billion better off than what was forecast in May of last year. And there’s a key reason for that – it’s more people in work and less people on welfare. And that’s what we’re seeking to drive. Australians have a very, very challenging time right now. We’ve seen the spread of the Omicron variant, we’ve seen the impact it’s having on supply chains, we’ve seen the impact it’s having on our health system. But working together, Australians will get through this. We know our vaccination rates are one of the highest in the world. We know that our mortality rates are one of the lowest in the world, and we know that our economic recovery is one of the strongest in the world. And to be here at a thriving business employing 200 Australians and to see firsthand, for example, this Kenworth truck with us here that was purchased using the instant asset write‑off that was made in Victoria, whose body was made just up the road here, a $400,000 investment by this business to help them grow and to help them create more jobs. Are there any questions?
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]… is that something that the Commonwealth Government will consider as both states are preparing the Omicron outbreak economic package?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The first thing to say is we continue to provide significant economic support into the Australian economy. We’ve already committed and are delivering some $300 billion of direct economic support. We’ve pulled out all stops to support businesses and, as you’ve heard, JobKeeper, the cash flow boost, the immediate expensing provisions. We continue to have economic support measures in place, like the Loss Carry Back measure which allows a small business that today is incurring a loss because of COVID to go and get a cash refund from the Tax Office against taxes that they have previously paid. We have an SME Loan Guarantee Scheme as well as of up to $5 million for businesses that want to back themselves to get through this crisis. We can’t to put these measures in place. But what has been agreed through national cabinet is that the Federal Government would take responsibility for income support through the crisis and the states would take responsibility for delivering small business support. We continue to provide that Pandemic Leave Payment, so if people have to isolate as a result of COVID we provide up to $750 a week for those people. We would welcome any announcements from states of further investments into small business. But right now, we’ve already got measures that are underway to help those small businesses from the Commonwealth. I also want to point out a couple of other key facts. We have seen, even though spending has come off a little bit as a result of Omicron and the challenges that business face, we’ve actually seen credit card spending in aggregate terms, 19 per cent higher right now through January than what we saw during the Delta period. And aggregate credit card spending data is still 25 per cent higher today than what we saw in the equivalent period back in 2019. There are challenges for small business. We have seen high levels of absenteeism as Omicron has spread. But we also know that households and businesses have accumulated some $360 billion on balance sheets and that the Federal Government continues to provide significant economic support, whether it’s to their workers through the Pandemic Leave Payment or whether it’s to small businesses through the Loss Carry Back measure.
JOURNALIST:
And on JobKeeper, you mentioned there [inaudible] business to stay alive during the pandemic and you mentioned spending as well is also down. Is spending down sort of towards the Delta lockdown level and not having lockdowns as the moment, do you think something like JobKeeper should be brought back or something similar to that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We’ve no plans to bring back JobKeeper. I know that the Labor Party want to continue to spend on programs such as that and, indeed, they wanted to expand it and extend it. But it was the record government spend for a wage subsidy of that kind, and it worked. The Reserve Bank of Australia has said that it saved more than 700,000 jobs together with our other economic programs. The fact that Treasury said to me during the height of the pandemic that they feared the unemployment rate could reach as high as 15 per cent – that would be more than 2 million Australians unemployed – and today Australia is seeing an unemployment rate at 4.2 per cent, the lowest in more than 13 years. Programs like JobKeeper really worked. They made a difference. They helped save jobs in this business, like they’ve helped save jobs in around 1 million Australian businesses. But now we’re transitioning to a new phase of our pandemic response. We have other programs that continue to support Australian workers and Australian businesses through this challenging time.
JOURNALIST:
Will the government be placing any further economic sanctions on Russia?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We continue to look at our settings, but obviously our message is very clear to the Russian government – there’s no need for military action here. We want a peaceful resolution of the current tensions. And that’s to be resolved through diplomacy. We continue to use our good offices to work with our allies and our friends towards that objective.
JOURNALIST:
And what [inaudible] what sort of discussions are taking place?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Our Foreign Minister talks to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, that being Marise Payne. And we continue to have discussions with our key allies and friends – the United States and the European Union and elsewhere.
JOURNALIST:
And in terms of the threat, are the Australian government along with the US and UK overexaggerating this risk or is it a real threat?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The tensions are very real. There’s been a massive troop build‑up by the Russians on the border there. We call for calm. We obviously want to see a peaceful resolution of this – you know, these tensions. And the way to resolve it is through diplomacy. Last one.
JOURNALIST:
And in terms of COVID in Northern Territory [inaudible] Australia that most populations, you know, they’re going to die because of the way the situation has been handled there. Is it time for the Commonwealth to step in there, the Central Land Council have asked for the Australian Defence Force to come in, why hasn’t the government given that support, and is the ADF?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Our Defence Force is already deployed to the task of supporting Indigenous communities, supporting the broader community across the country as we roll out our pandemic response. There are 40 ADF personnel who are working through Howard Springs and in Alice Springs to ensure that we have the most effective pandemic response. We’ve got ADF drivers working in Victoria as part of the pandemic response. We’ve got public servants deployed from the Commonwealth to work in state bodies helping to take 000 calls and the like. We are deploying every resource at our disposal. The key to these Indigenous communities that are vulnerable to the virus is to ensure that we get the booster shots and, of course, the vaccines to those people who have yet to have them. And we are doing that through our health systems and putting in place clinics and other support measures to ensure that we roll out the vaccines and the booster shots as our clean line of defence against Omicron and other variants.
JOURNALIST:
Just one more for Channel 9 – the Government’s announced an extra $1 billion for the reef, but one of the underlying issues for the reef dying is actually climate change. Why does the Government refuse to increase it’s targets on that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We’ve taken a major commitment to net‑zero by 2050, and it’s one that the Prime Minister has led and obviously he went to the COP26 meeting in the United Kingdom. Our focus is on technology, not taxes. And we’ve seen right across the board record investment by our Government in reducing emissions. We’ve seen emissions on 2005 levels down by around 20 per cent. That’s well ahead of what we’ve seen in Canada, what we’ve seen in New Zealand, what we’ve seen in the United States. We’re seeing a record investment in renewables. I think it’s a wonderful thing that here in Australia one in four households have solar panels on their roof. That’s the highest on a per capita basis anywhere in the world. And we’re investing in hydrogen, we’re investing in carbon capture and storage, Snowy 2.0 is building a big battery for the east coast of Australia. The transition is on in our energy system. And we are helping to fund that transition in a way that does multiple things at one time – namely, reduces our carbon footprint, it strengthens our economy, and it creates jobs and, of course, it protects our environment. That’s what we need to do while driving electricity prices down. And because you asked me about climate and the impact on the energy system as well, electricity prices, ensuring that they remain affordable, is absolutely key. Under Labor electricity prices doubled. Since December 2018 electricity prices have come down 10 per cent under [inaudible].
JOURNALIST:
Just on a local point, Lindsay is a marginal seat and a lot of people in this community have been impacted by lockdowns, obviously the pandemic with their work. Moving towards the federal election, are you confident about the seat of Lindsay or do you think the government needs to kind of have a bit more of a focus and assure the constituents that, you know, the Coalition is the right choice?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The first thing to say is that in Melissa McIntosh, we’ve got an outstanding local member. And she has won the confidence and the trust of her local community. Earlier today we were out meeting community leaders, the local mayor and other business leaders, people involved in the sporting field. And they were telling me how proud they are of the work that Melissa does. Her work ethic, but also her ideas and her values are what matters to the people of Lindsay. I’ve got great confidence that Melissa will campaign very hard and continue to win the trust of the people in this electorate. But we don’t take any seat for granted. That’s why every day we’re out there working hard, explaining to the public the benefit of our policies. Now, here in Lindsay we saw 25,000 workers benefit from JobKeeper. The Labor Party attacks JobKeeper. I can tell you, it saved the economy and it saved more than 700,000 jobs, including being provided to 25,000 people here in Lindsay. Here in Lindsay there are 15,000 businesses that are eligible for the instant asset write‑off, businesses such as these that are investing in this new truck to help grow their business. I can tell you that here in Lindsay more than 70,000 taxpayers are going to see up to $2,700 less tax this year as a result of policies that Melissa, Scott Morrison and I and our Government have implemented and legislated. The next election is a clear choice – it’s a choice between a Labor‑Greens coalition and a Liberal National coalition. It’s a choice between a Government that is delivering record tax cuts, that is seeing unemployment come down to a 13‑year low and a Government that is committed to protecting Australians both here and abroad. Here from the challenges of the virus and abroad in terms of the national security agenda and the key areas and the key challenges that we face, none of which we can take for granted. The economic recovery is not locked in, and that’s why at the next election when people get closer to going to polling day they’ll know that Scott Morrison and the Coalition and here in Lindsay, Melissa McIntosh, are a vote for a stronger, more secure future. Thank you.