MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
Treasurer, good morning. Thank you for your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It was my pleasure to be in Tasmania, and great to be with you this morning, Mike.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
Could you tell us what brought you to Tassie yesterday?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look, I wanted to meet with local businesses. I addressed the Launceston Chamber of Commerce and discussed the fact that Tasmania has seen a record low unemployment rate at 3.8 per cent and that we, the Morrison Government, have been providing an unprecedented amount of economic support for the people of Tasmania through JobKeeper, the cashflow boost, $750 payment to pensioners, to carers, supporting the aviation industry. I had an opportunity to talk to the Association of Independent Retirees and do a forum with them in the electorate of Bass. I went and visited well‑known businesses across the state, including Josef Chromy wines, which is a remarkable success story that was supported by JobKeeper but is now using the instant asset write‑off to go and purchase new equipment. And now, of course, they’re welcoming the fact that our borders are now opening and tourists are coming back. I went to Tamar Valley Roses Farm and heard about how they’re a thriving business, supporting 14 staff, and did it pretty tough during the lockdowns but now they’re back on their feet. And then I went and saw a really new and exciting business, Turner Stillhouse gin distillery, again which used JobKeeper and is now using instant asset write‑off but in just a few years a burgeoning business producing lots of good bottles of gin and indeed whisky and supplying people across the country and the state.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
You’ve said the Morrison Government continues to have the backs of Tasmanian households and businesses as the economy recovers from the pandemic, but I can honestly say, Treasurer, that I wouldn’t know too many Tasmanians who would always agree with that statement. We receive regular calls from our listeners who are struggling to keep up with the cost of living continuing to rise, house prices skyrocketing really to unaffordable levels, and petrol nearing $2 a litre. What’s being done to improve these things?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, let’s go through them. The first thing is that inflation is higher than expected. It is at 3.5 per cent and a headline rate, but it’s still less than half of what it is in the United States and lower than what it is in the United Kingdom and New Zealand and other related countries. That’s because we’ve seen actually supply chains be really strained through this pandemic, so materials like steel and timber have gone up. And, as you know, there were great tensions in Europe right now between Russia and Ukraine, and there’s been an increase in oil prices. That has gone up quite substantially and Australian oil prices reflect that. In terms of electricity prices, they’ve actually been coming down through the actions by our Government. Electricity prices are down by eight per cent within the last two years. They doubled under the Labor Party, and that is a very clear contrast and we’re hoping to drive them down even further. But we’ve actually seen through the measures that we’ve taken, like the tax cuts supporting thousands of people cross Tasmania, putting more money into their pockets, and that’s one way of alleviating some of these higher cost‑of‑living pressures. And obviously, that’s again another point of difference between us and the Labor Party. The Labor Party increases taxes. We lower taxes.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
Are we going to be seeing any increases to social payments to keep up with the cost‑of‑living rises, though, particularly for pensioners?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
What we do is we see the pension actually get indexed and it does rise. And we’ve also increased the JobSeeker payments. Now, we undertook the biggest increase to those JobSeeker payments for the unemployed in some 20 years. That was a significant investment by the Government. The best thing we can do for people who are unemployed is to help them find work, and that’s why I am investing in programs like JobTrainer, which has got more than 400,000 places to train people up with the skills that are needed across the workforce. And to know that your unemployment rate in Tasmania is the lowest on record, 3.8 per cent, it’s less than half of what it is was when Labor was in Government at eight per cent. Your economy has grown nearly 20 per cent since the Coalition has come to Government. Again, these are not just statistics. These numbers mean real benefits to your listeners and people’s lives in Tasmania. It means more jobs and more money into their pockets through tax cuts and a stronger economy, which obviously gives them the confidence that things are moving in the right direction.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
But our unemployment rate is the second‑highest in the country. Tasmanians may be more employed than ever, but we have the highest level of casual employees at 26.6 per cent, which is 4.7 per cent higher than the national average. Tassie workers earn 13 per cent less than the Australian median wage. Over 20,000 Tasmanians work more than one job; and women working in Tasmania are more likely to be working part‑time than the national average. Do you think that needs more attention?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Obviously, trying to move people from part‑time into full‑time work, if that’s what they want, is something that we’re creating opportunities for, and what we saw in the most recent job numbers were more full‑time jobs being created as well as part‑time jobs. But a lot of people want the option of, you know, working part‑time. But when you look at the overall labour market [inaudible] through this pandemic, it’s been much better than even the top economists or the Reserve Bank of Australia or Treasury had been forecasting. Treasury came to me at the top of – early on in this crisis in March, April 2020 and said, “Treasurer, the unemployment rate could reach as high as 15 per cent.” It’s now 4.2 per cent nationally and, as I said, even lower in Tasmania, and we’ve avoided what is called the scarring of the labour market which was so reminiscent of Australia’s experience during the recession of the 1980s and 1990s. In the 1980s, they took some eight years for the unemployment rate to get back to where it was pre-recession, and in the 1990s it took some 10 years to get back. Now we’ve done it in just over a year, and now the unemployment rate is actually lower than it was going into the pandemic. There are some really positive signs for the economy. We’ve kept our AAA rating. We’ve created more jobs. We’ve cut taxes. And I think Tasmanians, as well as Australians more broadly, can be pretty optimistic and confident about the economic future.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
If we’re seeing tax cuts, these tax cuts, how are we now paying off our trillion‑dollar debt? I believe we already knocked off – what is it? – $24.5 billion off this year’s budget deficit?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Firstly, the debt has increased. It’s not a trillion dollars right now, but it has increased as a result of this pandemic. But we took actions that were necessary because the economy was going into hibernation and, as a result, many people were concerned about their job. Many businesses were facing pretty challenging times. The programs that we undertook were very, very effective in creating jobs and saving jobs. With respect to how we pay back that debt, we need to grow the economy. And we saw through what is called the Final Budget Outcome for the 2021 year a $80 billion improvement in the bottom line compared to what we were forecasting in the initial budget itself. And the reason for that is because more people were in work. When more people are in work, more people pay tax and there is less welfare. And that’s how you improve the budget bottom line. And that’s why we continue to invest in our economic plan, lower taxes, more skills, greater infrastructure investment, transition to a digital economy, investments in energy and, of course, manufacturing, which is just so important for Australia.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
And early this month, you announced plans to make rapid antigen tests tax‑deductible. Where are things at there?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That is true. They will be tax‑deductible for these businesses. They won’t be hit with an FBT tax, which is, you know, a good relief to them. But we’ve also provided free RAT tests to concessional card holders, which is really important.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
I would have thought you’d make them free altogether, especially for low‑income earners and essential workers who will need the test to continue working as such?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The first thing to say is that anyone who needs a test and is symptomatic and sick, they just go to a state clinic and at no cost to themselves they can get a test and get a result soon after. The tests are free for people who are symptomatic who need to go to a state clinic. We have, though, provided concessional card holders millions of these free RAT tests, and I think that’s an action that we took based on equity grounds, and I think that’s responsible course of action as well.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
A big day yesterday with international borders reopening, speaking of which.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
International borders opening is a really good thing for the people of Tasmania. It’s a good thing for the Australian economy at large. It’s a multibillion-dollar industry - tourism. It supports over half a million jobs directly and indirectly, and the fact that skilled workers, international students and now tourists can come back to our country is a good thing and shows what happens when you move safely with the pandemic. And let’s not forget Australia has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world, one of the highest vaccination rates anywhere in the world and now one of the strongest economic recoveries anywhere in the world.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
How did the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting go in Indonesia last week?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It was a very good meeting and it was an important opportunity for me to meet with these finance ministers from around the world. Most of them were actually virtually dialled in and I was there with my counterpart, Sri Mulyani, and it was a really good opportunity to work with them on the key issues affecting the financial system, including supporting developing countries, talking about the inflationary pressures that have been felt globally, as well as obviously the tension in the Ukraine.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
Where are things at with the plan to deliver net zero?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We’re transitioning in our energy system very effectively. Emissions are down by more than 20 per cent on 2005 levels. That’s ahead of a number of other comparable countries like New Zealand, like Canada, like the United States. We’re investing heavily in a whole series of new technologies, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, low-cost solar and the like. That is having an effect and reducing our emissions, but, as I said, we’re also reducing our electricity prices down by eight per cent in the last two years alone compared to double under the Labor Party.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
It’s interesting, isn’t it, that Anthony Albanese told the National Press Club last month he wanted rising living standards lifted by more secure work, better wages and Australia with more secure jobs in both existing and new industries? Interesting. How is he going to do that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I think Anthony Albanese talks a big game from opposition, but when he was part of a Labor Government last time in Coalition with the Greens, he delivered very little. He talks about secure work, but the unemployment rate under Labor was 5.7 per cent. It’s 4.8 per cent today, and now we have 1.7 million more Australians who are in work today than when we came to government, and that includes one million more women in work today than when we came to government. He talks about higher wages but wages were falling when Anthony Albanese was last in government. He talked about lower cost of living. Electricity prices doubled when Labor was last in government. He talks about lower debt levels. They’ve already made commitments to spend an extra $80 billion through the COVID pandemic on top of what we had spent including a $6 billion cash splash to pay people to get the jab who have already had the jab. Of course, he has stood for higher taxes throughout his whole career whether it’s the carbon tax, the mining tax, the congestion tax. At the last election, he was standing for retirees taxes, housing taxes, superannuation taxes, family business taxes, higher income taxes, and as I pointed out to Parliament, he has also supported death duties and inheritance tax. He wants to be a small target. He wants to sneak into government, but the reality is he has always stood for higher taxes, and his track record as part of a Labor–Greens Government is nothing to brag about.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
It’s interesting, isn’t it, there’s been some backlash overnight Treasurer about ads you’ve authorised appearing on WeChat, and that’s despite Coalition politicians calling for a boycott of the platform. It certainly made for some very interesting reading. I quote from The Australian, “One billion WeChat users want Josh Frydenberg to be our next Prime Minister.”
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The fact is I find it pretty amusing that the Labor Party are bringing the attention to my attacks on Anthony Albanese through paid advertisements. I don’t have a WeChat account. I would have liked to have received a WeChat account, but they didn’t give me one just like they didn’t give the Prime Minister one. I think that’s wrong that the Prime Minister and I do not have a WeChat account, whereas Anthony Albanese is allowed to have one. We do advertise with the Financial News and advertisements, we don’t pay for articles. I want to always communicate with my Australian–Chinese community. I think they’re very valuable members of our broader community. And the issues with China right now are bilateral issues; they’re issues in a country‑to‑country relationship. They’re not issues with the Australian–Chinese community.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
I’m going to wind it up so I’ll be very quick. Some good news for science and research in Antarctica today.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Wonderful news – $800 million‑plus investment by the Morrison Government, which, you know, builds on our very strong and long and proud tradition of investing in Antarctica, whether it was Sir Douglas Mawson and his heroic expeditions back in the early 1900s or the fact that today we have our best and brightest research scientists in Antarctica understanding the impacts of climate change, doing that level of research. So, this money will go to autonomous vehicles. It will go to drones. It will go to a whole series of new technologies that will help us.
MIKE O’LOUGHLIN:
“Scott of the Antarctic” – a good headline as well. Listen, what a pleasure to be speaking with you, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Thank you for your time this morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
All the best. Bye.