PETER STEFANOVIC:
Treasurer, good to see you. Thanks as always for your time. So before we get on to economic matters, I do want to ask you about some movements within the party. So first of all, what have you done to try and convince Greg Hunt to stay?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, he’s my best mate in the Parliament, Pete. We’re the godfather to each other’s children and I was the best man at his wedding. And he’s been a brilliant health minister who’s invested heavily in mental health, in getting new drugs on to the PBS and medical research and, of course, helping to steer Australia through this once‑in‑a‑century pandemic, and I think he can be very proud of his achievements. I’ll leave any formal announcements to him. But, of course, I would have loved him to stay, but, you know, everyone takes their own time to make their own decisions, and obviously Greg has reflected on that. And with respect to Christian Porter, he’s a very valued colleague and he’s made a great contribution as well, and he’ll be sorely missed.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So you did try and convince Greg to stay?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I did my – a did a bit, but not enough, clearly.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Well, on to Christian Porter then, does his decision not to recontest make it easier now to hold on to Pearce?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I wouldn’t characterise it like that. He would have been, obviously, very welcome as part of the team. And, you know, he’s been a senior minister in our government and made a very valuable contribution. But if you read his statement, you can see the impact that the job has had on his family and, like it does on other members of this place. And particularly being in Western Australia, that’s a long trip to make every sitting fortnight as well as the responsibilities that come with a ministerial portfolio. So he had a great career in state politics as well as obviously in federal politics. And everyone gets to decide their future, and both Greg and Christian have obviously reflected on theirs.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Should women be guaranteed the chance to contest both seats?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, firstly, I’d say that those decisions are going to be up to the individual pre‑selectors in those seats. But I do know that there are strong female candidates who are considering running both in Pearce and in Flinders. And obviously the more women we get as part of our team the better it will be. We’ve got some very strong female candidates right across the country at the next election, including in my own state in the winnable seats of Dunkley and Corangamite.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Is anyone else stepping aside?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, you might have to do a survey of the chamber. I’m not aware of any other major decisions that are coming your way today, but you never know.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Treasurer, you saw the third biggest GDP drop yesterday since ’59. It will bounce back, though, over Christmas. But could any recovery be derailed by variants and inflation, too?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as you know with Omicron we’ve taken a considered decision based on the medical advice to pause that reopening by a couple of weeks because we want to learn more about the transmissibility of that variant, about the severity of that variant, and the ability of the vaccines to be a defence against that variant. But we’re certainly looking to open those borders as soon as it’s safe to do so. I’m very confident about the economy’s prospects next year and for a strong Christmas retail period. We did see, as you said, a contraction in the September quarter, but that’s because our two largest states, New South Wales and Victoria, were in lockdown. But since the pandemic began, Australia’s had a stronger economic recovery than all but two of the major advanced economies. Our economy has recovered more strongly than the United Kingdom, than Canada, than Japan, than Germany, than Italy. And we’ve got a very proud record on economic management, but also in driving that unemployment rate lower, Pete. Even after this biggest economic shock since the Great Depression the unemployment rate today is lower than it was under Labor. And we’ve got the Reserve Bank of Australia saying the unemployment rate will go into the 4s and remain sustained there for some period for only the second time in the last 50 years. And that would be a very significant development.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
You don’t have clear air. I just want to be brief here, because we’re running out of time. But you don’t have clear air, do you? Variants will come and go. And that has to factor into your thinking, particularly in MYEFO, right?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We don’t want a stop‑start recovery, we want a smooth recovery. And we know that the vaccine rate here in Australia is now one of the highest in the world. And I do believe that’s going to give us a strong layer of defence, and it has allowed restrictions to be eased. And we’ve seen the forecasts for economic growth be increased. The RBA has gone from 4.25 to 5.5 per cent by the end of next year, and just overnight the OECD has upgraded their economic growth forecast to above 4 per cent for the Australian economy next year. So things are looking up. We’ve seen retail sales be strong in recent weeks. We’ve seen business investment intentions in the non‑mining sector the strongest on record, and we have seen 350,000 jobs come back since the start of September. So your viewers can go to Christmas with optimism, with confidence, knowing that our economy is better placed than nearly any other economy in the world for 2022.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, thanks, as always, for your time. Appreciate it. We’ll talk to you soon.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
My pleasure.