NEIL BREEN:
Treasurer, tax cuts. That's the headline today, or the Australian women are better off as a result of tax cuts. You finally got a good headline.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thanks, Breenie. It's nice to be on your program. Good morning to your listeners. Everyone knows that our focus has been on delivering a stronger economy, and that's what we're seeing. We've obviously seen unemployment go down to a 13 year low at 4.2 per cent compared to 5.7 per cent under Labor. And at every turn, we've been looking to cut taxes, small business taxes, are now at their lowest level in 50 years. And more than 11 million Australians have actually got around $30 billion in tax cuts as a result of policies we've legislated through the Parliament. And as you say, the focus has been on delivering tax cuts for young people, and young women have been particular beneficiaries from this program when they're paying, on average, 20 per cent less tax today than they would have under the Labor Party.
NEIL BREEN:
Do you think the public is listening? There's a lot of noise around at the moment. There was Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins last week. There were religious discrimination bills that didn't get over the line. But Newspoll today was slightly better for the government. Slightly.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yeah. There's more noise than a U2 concert I reckon. It's heavy metal all round. I though am focused on my job, which is delivering a stronger economy, more jobs, lower taxes. Don't forget it was a Queenslander Shadow Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, who said the biggest test of the Morrison Government's management of the pandemic will be what happens to the unemployment rate and jobs. And unemployment today is at 4.2 per cent. It was 5.7 per cent under Labor. Youth unemployment, underemployment, unemployment are all lower under us. They may talk a big game in opposition, but when they were in government, they delivered something very different. And the Australian people have obviously been frustrated by the two years of COVID, had a difficult summer, holidays were disrupted, lots of people caught Omicron. But at the same time, I think as we get closer to Election Day, people will focus on the big things that matter, the vaccination rate, which is now one of the highest in the world, the economic recovery, which is one of the strongest in the world, and our national security. And that's why we hosted a meeting last week of the foreign ministers from India, the United States, Japan, and Marise Payne did a very good job with that. That's why the Prime Minister has entered us into the AUKUS arrangement with the United Kingdom and the United States. We're focusing on the big things that matter, and hopefully that's what will come into greater attention as we approach Election Day.
NEIL BREEN:
Treasurer, just on these tax cuts for women. And I'm sure women are obviously very happy about it. The thing they're angry about is the pay gap and that's the discrepancy between men and women. How can that be fixed? That's key.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It has narrowed under the coalition. I think that's important. So female workforce participation has increased so there's 1 million more women who are in work in Australia today compared to when Labor was last in office and the gender pay gap has narrowed. Now one of the ways we can do that is obviously through creating more jobs and more opportunities…
NEIL BREEN:
Fining companies?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It's not about fining, it's about creating opportunities. I'm focusing on the positive. One of the pieces of legislation Neil that we passed through the Parliament just last week was to abolish what is called the $450 rule which is going to enable 200,000 women to get paid superannuation on their income that they previously didn't. Now that is just one of a number of measures that we're helping women build up their retirement balances. We put in place a low income superannuation tax offset which is going to help nearly 2 million women. We legislated for catch up contributions which is going to enable women to put more money aside into their super when they come back into the workforce. And of course, we've abolished, as I said, the $450 rule last week. Again, the contrast with Labor is very clear. At the last election they $27 billion of higher taxes on super including removing the flexibility on catch up contributions. We're doing something very different today. We're looking to create opportunities for women and that means supporting super and supporting lower taxes.
NEIL BREEN:
Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, have a good week in Canberra. Keep your head down.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you, bye.