PETER STEFANOVIC:
Joining us live now is the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Treasurer, good morning. So disaster payments are ending. But is it wise to strong arm the states in a fight you know you can’t win?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we’re backing Australia’s plan to reopen in a COVID‑safe way and we want to bring to an end these lockdowns so Australians can get their lives back. As you know, Pete, currently we’re providing about one and a half million people across the country with the COVID disaster payment. It’s the equivalent of spending more than a billion dollars a week. It’s a $750 payment based on the number of hours of work that have been lost. And at 70 per cent rather than being a recurring payment these individuals will need to reapply on a weekly basis. And once we get to an 80 per cent double‑dose vaccination rate in a particular state or territory that payment will come to an end but there will be a two‑week transition period. This is in accordance with the national plan and it’s a way to ensure that our labour market can continue to operate more freely.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Yes, but might some Premiers be inclined to slow down vaccination rates now and keep borders closed in order to keep COVID out so payments, if needed, can continue?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, if state premiers and Chief Ministers decided to slow down the vaccination rates, they would be incredibly counterproductive. And, in fact, they would be culpable in damaging the good health of their citizens, and I don’t think they would do that. It’s, you know –
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Well, it’s slowing in WA.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
– unthinkable. Well, it’s unthinkable that they would do that on a considered basis because it would be definitely ill considered to do so. The key here is that vaccination rates are rapidly increasing and the 70 and 80 per cent targets are now in sight and both Victoria and New South Wales have laid out a plan to ease restrictions at those vaccination rates. So we want to encourage them to do so, but we also want to ensure that lockdowns can come to an end and people can get their lives back in accordance with the national plan agreed at national cabinet.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. This is going to affect New South Wales first on current trends, but unemployment and underemployment still very high, particularly in western parts of Sydney. So isn’t this just going to drive up anxiety?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as I said, there’s a transition period. And we’re telegraphing well ahead of those dates what is actually going to occur. So that will give some certainty to people as they can start to plan for their futures, as well as for business operators and owners. And the idea is to have the business support payments also transitioning in accordance with that national plan at 70 to 80 per cent. But what we’ve seen previously, Pete, is that the economy has been remarkably resilient. Our labour market has also been remarkably resilient. The unemployment rate today is around 4.5 per cent, a 13‑year low, but there has been as a result of these Delta outbreaks and the subsequent lockdowns a large number of people who have been stood down on zero hours. But history shows us in this pandemic that once restrictions are eased people get back to work pretty quickly, and we’re hopeful that that will happen again.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Yeah, I mean, why are you so confident that things will bounce back so quickly this time? Because we are still seeing such long queues of people at food banks, particularly in Victoria.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, there has been a very strong labour market in Australia. In fact, the issue you and I were talking about pre‑Delta were labour force shortages. So once restrictions are eased – and there is a road map for that to occur in New South Wales and Victoria – businesses will start to reopen, people will go back to work. There will be a period of transition and we’ve made an allowance for that. But these COVID disaster payments, these business support payments have been emergency payments, and we can’t continue them forever. Nor can we continue lockdowns forever. If you look abroad – the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, countries are learning to live with COVID. We can’t eliminate it; we must live with it in a safe way, and so we’ve taken the medical advice, we’ve taken the economic advice and we’ve made our announcements today.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Just on another announcement by the New South Wales government this morning, Treasurer, it wants to cut emissions in half by 2030, and that’s with the support of the Nationals. Is that flipping the bird at your government?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we obviously welcome their announcements about their various initiatives, Pete. But in terms of our plan, we’ve put it in place to meet our Paris targets with a reduction in emissions by 28 per cent by 2030 on what those emissions were in 2005. We’re making good progress. We’ve seen a reduction in emissions by more than 20 per cent to date. So we’re obviously working internally on other programs and plans. We’ll have more to say about that in due course, but it’s been a very constructive discussion, despite sometimes what you read in the papers.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay, are you preparing for an early election before Christmas, Treasurer?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I’m not. I’m just getting about my daily job, and that’s to help Australia through this pandemic. And, Pete, you know what I’m really pleased about is that the economy, despite everything that’s been thrown at it, despite the fact that we’ve faced the greatest economic shock since the Great Depression, our economy has been very resilient. And as you know, we've thrown the kitchen sink at our response – whether it was JobKeeper, whether it was the doubling of the JobSeeker payment with the coronavirus supplement, whether it was the cash flow boost, whether it’s record infrastructure programs, whether it was the tax cuts, whether it’s a range of other incentives designed to boost business investment. We have adopted a full‑court press with the economy over the last 20 months over the course of the pandemic, and it did see Australia have one of the strongest recoveries in the world pre Delta. We’ve obviously taken a hit with Delta, but as these restrictions are eased and we get to those vaccination rates I’m confident that our economy will come back strongly again.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Treasurer, thanks for your time.