PETER JOHNSON:
Peter Johnson, the group CEO of the Cotton On Group. Thank you all for coming here to the Avalon Industrial Precinct, and thank you to David Fox for representing LinFox here and hosting today. Really, really proud and pleased to be standing here with Sarah Henderson, our local Senator, who’s supported the Cotton On Group for many years and this facility wouldn't be possible without her support and then, probably more so today, standing here with the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. It’s been incredible, the Government support that we’ve had over the last 12 months, it’s fair to say, Cotton On Group qualifying for JobKeeper has made a significant impact on our business, both internally and for our customer. Internally, it gave us the confidence to plan for the future, the confidence to retain our team, the confidence to communicate and connect with our team through this pandemic. And it also, we saw with it show up with our customer, our customer had the confidence to spend and continue to trade with us. We had periods where we had five stores in our Group that were open, we closed almost 1,300 stores at one point in time. In Australia we had all of our 650 stores closed at one point in time. So to have the support of the Federal Government through that period was incredible, we couldn't be any more appreciative of the way they responded, the speed they responded, the openness about how they communicated through that period, it really did give us the confidence to run this business and to be here today, without the support of JobKeeper as we look forward to the next 12 months and to continue to trade, continue to maximise this facility that we’re standing in. I just want to take this opportunity to thank both Sarah for her continued support in the region and Josh for the work the Federal Government have done over the last 12 months. It's been a significant factor in the performance of the Cotton On Group this year. Thank you Sarah, thanks Josh.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well thanks very much Peter, it’s a pleasure to join you and members of the Fox family at this incredible distribution centre. I’m particularly pleased to be here with my good friend and Victorian Parliamentary colleague, Sarah Henderson, who has been such a strong advocate for the people of this region. Well Cotton On is an amazing Australian success story, an Australian owned business, a family owned business, nearly 30 years strong, that started with just one store and now have more than 1,300 stores globally. Not only a great Australian retailer, but now a global retailer of real significance. Nearly 20,000 staff across the world which is a wonderful tribute to the company and to the family that founded it and to the many, many workers who work with Cotton On. And as Peter said, Cotton On was hit hard, hit really hard by COVID-19, so much so, that they qualified for JobKeeper. They had 5,500 workers on JobKeeper, but now, their business and their workers have graduated from JobKeeper. As the economy has picked up the restrictions have eased and Australians have got back to work, and that is a success story, and that is the direction in which the Australian economy is heading, an economic recovery, which, according to the Reserve Bank Governor, is well underway. And an economic recovery which we can now see in the data, whether it’s the employment numbers, 85 per cent of 1.3 million Australians who either lost their jobs or saw their working hours reduced to zero are now back at work. In the September quarter, we saw GDP growth of 3.3 per cent, the single largest quarterly increase since 1976. And business and consumer confidence has now picked up to its pre-COVID levels. And the Morrison Government is focused on one thing, jobs, jobs and more jobs. And today Cotton On are announcing an extension of this incredible distribution centre, extending it by about one third in capacity, which means capacity for another 100 jobs, another 100 workers under this big roof. Now in this facility behind us, there are some 50,000 different product lines and there are some four million units are distributed around the country every week. That’s a huge logistical challenge. But what we can see here is the cutting edge technology. New technology that has been made available right across the country in all different sectors by measures that we put in last year’s Budget on October 6, including the immediate expensing for businesses with a turnover of less than $5 billion. The other key point I wanted to make today is we have new ATO data, which shows that $7 billion has made its way into the pockets of Australian families over the last six months as a result of the Morrison Government's tax cuts and more than $1 billion a month will make its way into the pockets of Australian families over the next nine months. Now these tax cuts, together with the JobKeeper program which has seen $77 billion already out the door, the JobMaker Hiring Credit, which will enable businesses like Cotton On to take a young person who has been unemployed and to put them into work at a minimum of 20 hours a week, the infrastructure spending that we have brought forward, billions of dollars of infrastructure spending to help create jobs. And as a I said, the immediate expensing, the loss carry-back measure are the other support that we are providing to our tourism industry, all these measures are designed to do one thing, create jobs and to keep Australians in work. As our economy faces its biggest economic shock since the Great Depression and Australia faces the most significant pandemic in more than a century. So, Peter, thank you for having Sarah and I to this wonderful facility. Thank you to your workers, who I know have worked through pretty difficult times this year. But also, thank you for the confidence that you have in the Australian economy by investing in the expansion of this facility and of course in your business, which is going from strength to strength. Sarah.
SARAH HENDERSON:
Well, good morning everyone, and thank you, Josh. It is absolutely wonderful to be here at the global headquarters of Cotton On. Very much a proud Geelong company. And, to Peter and to Michael, to David Fox, and of course my great friend, Josh. Under the leadership of the Treasurer and the Prime Minister, and of course with the Health Minister, our government has stood shoulder to shoulder, by the sides of all Australians as we have got through this pandemic. And, today, this is all about jobs and this is a great boost for our region. Another 100 jobs, a one third expansion of this fantastic facility, and a great sign that our economic recovery is underway. So, congratulations Peter, to you and your team and to the 250 workers who are currently here. Of course, some 10,000 Australians work for Cotton On and another 10,000 overseas, and this is a great example of homegrown manufacturing and innovation and, of course, of a company that has really invested so heavily in Victoria and in the great city of Geelong. So, Josh, to you and to the Prime Minister, and to our government, whether it’s JobKeeper, JobTrainer, the tax cuts, or the investments that we have provided to businesses like Cotton On, through the good times and the bad, we are so proud of the announcement today. This is a great day for Geelong, for Victoria, a great day for Cotton On, and a really strong signal of our economic recovery underway here in Australia.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thanks, Sarah. Are there any questions?
JOURNALIST:
Maybe if I could ask one to Peter first, then come to you, Treasurer, if that’s alright?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Sure.
JOURNALIST:
Peter, JobKeeper ends in March, and borders are still opening and closing, as we’ve seen, how will Cotton On go once that’s withdrawn and how do you think the broader Australian business community will fare should JobKeeper be extended?
PETER JOHNSON:
I think what we’ve seen through this last year is how resilient the economy has been through the support the government has provided. It’s maintained some spending throughout the year. So, I think we’re an optimistic country, I think our customer base is optimistic, and we as an organisation are optimistic. So, we’re still feeling conservative but optimistic around the next 12 months. We’ll continue to adjust when the customer comes in, and continue to adjust where we need to. And that’s pretty much been the year; we’ve adjusted all the way along, when we’ve closed stores, when customers have shifted to our online business, when stores have reopened they’ve gone back to shopping centres. So, I think we’ll continue to see that throughout this year.
JOURNALIST:
Is that unusual though, once JobKeeper finishes in March, for Cotton On?
PETER JOHNSON:
I think it’s business as usual in a post-COVID world. Business as usual is what 2020 was, it was that you have to adapt, and you have to respond and you have to do it really quickly. You can’t set long term plans and you hope things will go your way, it won’t. So, ‘business as usual’ means that we’ll continue to run this business like we did through 2020, which is respond, adapt and adjust.
JOURNALIST:
So, it sounds like you’re comfortable that JobKeeper will finish in March, as a business leader?
PETER JOHNSON:
Look, we will focus on what we can control, and we know that if we produce the right product, and the customer wants it in the right way, then we will be ok. Treasurer?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thanks, Peter. JobKeeper has been a remarkable program. It’s the single largest economic support program that any government has ever undertaken. Already $77 billion is out the door, and, at its peak, it’s supported some 3.6 million Australian workers, and around one million Australian businesses. But what we saw in October was that two million fewer workers and 450,000 fewer businesses were on JobKeeper compared to the month prior of September. Now, this was a direct result of the confidence coming back into the economy, the restrictions being eased, and people getting back to work. So, JobKeeper was always intended to be a temporary program. It was initially legislated for six months, and as you know we extended it for another six months. But it is a program that goes to the end of March.
But it’s not the only support program that the Morrison Government is rolling out across the country. As I said, JobMaker, the tax cuts, the infrastructure investments, the investment incentives with the immediate expensing and the loss carry-back measures. All of those are designed to support the economy and, of course, the HomeBuilder program, which has been the spark that has been necessary for the construction industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of Australians; and we’ve seen big jumps in new home sales, as people take advantage of those incentives at the federal level, and the incentives also being offered on a complementary basis at the state levels.
So, some $250 billion, it’s a lot of money, has been committed by the Morrison Government. Nearly $150 billion is out the door already, with more still to come, and we are hoping that Australia’s success, as Sarah alluded to, in managing the virus will continue, because this is first and foremost a health crisis, and by getting on top of the health challenge, then the economic recovery can get underway. I remind you that, just yesterday, Australia had 13 cases. 13 coronavirus cases in Australia. No one in an ICU, and no one on a ventilator. At the same time, in one day, there were 750,000 new COVID-19 cases around the world; nearly a quarter of a million new cases in the United States and 50,000 plus cases in the United Kingdom. So, Australia’s position on both the health front and the economic front is vastly different to so many other nations across the world. We are so blessed, so lucky to live in this great country. It’s been a collective effort, and I really, I really pay great tribute to our health workers, our defence force personnel, the other staff members who are working on the frontline, and of course all that is being done at the various levels of government as well.
JOURNALIST:
Are you calling on the states to reopen their borders with Queensland once the lockdown lifts tonight?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we welcome that decision and announcement by Annastacia Palaszczuk, about the Queensland lockdown. When it comes to lockdowns, when it comes to borders, state governments, federal governments are following the medical advice, and that’s critical. There are key principles that need to be adhered to. Measures need to be considered, measures need to be common sense, and measures need to be compassionate as well. This virus is not going away. We haven’t eliminated this virus, we’re not about to eliminate this virus. So, it’s our ability to deal with new cases when they arise that will determine the speed and the trajectory of our economic recovery. And I want to pay credit to Gladys Berejiklian and the New South Wales Government in particular, because they have had new cases, they have had hotspots, and they have taken very effective measures, which have been targeted and proportionate, which have helped them get on top of those new cases, while keeping their overall economy open.
JOURNALIST:
The Herald Sun this morning reported that Victoria could introduce a new traffic light system to travel across state borders. Is that something that you could support?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, I have discussed that with our Health Minister and the acting Prime Minister this morning and it’s something we’ll be seeking more detail from the Victorian Government about and I’m sure there’ll be further comments after we’ve taken a bit of analysis of that and got some further information from the Victorian Government.
JOURNALIST:
How would that compare to the Victorian Government’s border closures in response to the New South Wales outbreak?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, like you referred to, there’s been media reports this morning and we’ll get further information later today.
JOURNALIST:
Have any businesses told you that they’re comfortable with JobKeeper winding up in March, that they don’t need it anymore?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, we are seeing an economic recovery, which is well underway, and we’re seeing workers and their businesses graduate from JobKeeper. But it was always meant to be a temporary program, it was always designed to help get businesses to the other side, and it’s not the only support measure that we have in place.
JOURNALIST:
But has anyone said that they don’t need it after March?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, you’ve seen the same reports that I have, where some businesses have asked for an extension, others, as we’ve heard from today, are seeing jobs coming back, and are seeing the customers coming back. But my job, as the Treasurer, is to put in place an economic plan which will create jobs, and which will save jobs, and which will get Australia to the other side of this crisis. And our economic plan is working, and you can see that in a whole range of numbers that have come out about the economy in recent months.
Treasurer, I’ve got a question from Andrew Tillett from the AFR. Andrew, go ahead.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you, Andrew.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I mean Andrew, in terms of our economic support, the main pillars of our economic support are now in place. And, as I said. $250 billion dollars, an unprecedented sum of federal money, has been committed by the Morrison Government to Australia’s economic recovery, and of course JobKeeper has been the centrepiece but also we’ve put in place the Coronavirus Supplement, we’ve put in place the cash flow boost, some $35 billion has gone out the door to support small businesses, we’ve provided two $750 payments to millions of pensioners, carers, veterans, and others on income support, and just in September there was another $250 payment that again went to those on income support, and there’ll be another payment in early this year as well, another $250 payment that I announced at Budget. So there are a whole range of measures, now we’ll maintain a watching brief as to how the economic recovery goes in the coming months, but our focus has certainly been on implementing the programs that have been put in place and when it comes to extending them, we did extend JobKeeper for six months, we did extend HomeBuilder for an additional three months, and we have extended, as you know, the JobSeeker Coronavirus Supplement, while tapering those payments down.
When it comes to the assumptions in MYEFO that you allude to, they were there for everyone to see, there were assumptions about the roll out of the vaccine, there were assumptions about international travel, there were assumptions as you say about border closures, updates to the economic outlook and the economic forecasts will be next done at budget time, which is scheduled to be on the normal timetable in May, but the roll out of the vaccine which the Prime Minister and the Health Minister have outlined will now be started to be rolled out earlier than thought, is again earlier than what we had in the timetable, with the Prime Minister saying, we hope to have some four million vaccine doses distributed by the end of March. Now we had in the MYEFO statement the full national roll out of the vaccine would be the end of this year and obviously with that earlier than expected roll out of the vaccine that’s earlier than expected in the MYEFO numbers.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) ASIC report
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I do have a copy of the Thom report and I will have more to say about that in due course, but obviously we have had that report conducted by someone who is very well respected and I’ll leave further comments to a further time.
JOURNALIST:
Just back up to Queensland, there has been three days without a case in Queensland, is Queensland now no longer a hotspot?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, I’ll leave those statements to the Health Minister but there were some changes to the hotspot definition that took into account what we saw in Queensland because what we have seen with this new strain that has come from around 30 different countries, it’s not just the United Kingdom, a whole range of countries, it’s more infectious and when that case was established then the necessary action was taken around the Brisbane and the greater Brisbane area.
JOURNALIST:
Just on another issue if I can, did Facebook and Twitter do the right thing by suspending Donald Trump?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well I feel pretty uncomfortable with those measures that were announced. Freedom of speech is fundamental to our society. As Voltaire said, “I may not agree with what you say but I defend the right to say it”, and so those decisions were taken by commercial companies but personally I felt uncomfortable with what they did. When it comes to preaching of hate or very violent terrorist related material on the internet, the Government has taken action, as you know. Scott Morrison, as you know, led a charge through the G20 to deal with publishing of that sort of terrible content. But again, this is a fast moving space, my focus when it comes to the social media giants has been on getting them to pay for content, whether it is Facebook and Google and as you know, I introduced legislation into the Parliament just before the year ended, hopefully that will get through the Parliament shortly.
JOURNALIST:
Is it time for political leaders to condemn the storming of the US Capitol and to condemn the misinformation that eggs that on?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I certainly and the Prime Minister very much condemned those activities that took place in Washington DC. That footage was absolutely horrible. The Congress is a centre for democracy, not just in the United States, but it has been a beacon of democracy for the rest of the world as well, with the United States being such a powerful force globally for good over decades and decades and indeed Australia has been such a great beneficiary of America’s pursuit of freedom and security around the world. So I absolutely condemn in unequivocal terms actions that took place in Washington DC. There is no place for that type of behaviour.
JOURNALIST:
Would you then condemn the misinformation that’s been shared by Coalition MPs, if you agree that this misinformation has egged on these mobs?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
There needs to be an absolute focus on ensuring when there are demonstrations such as those, it is everyone’s lawful right in Australia to demonstrate, and we should be protecting that, but when it comes to demonstrations, whether it is here or overseas, I of course would like to see them be peaceful.
JOURNALIST:
But at what point would a senior government figure counsel George Christensen about some of the Trump conspiracy theories that he’s been posting online and warned against doing so?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, I was asked about that this morning, and I said George Christensen is accountable to his electorate and can explain his actions. When it comes to the ability of an MP to tweet and to speak, they are democratically elected to the Parliament.
JOURNALIST:
You famously called Donald Trump a drop kick before he even became President, has his behaviour since the election proven you right?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well I am not going to engage in character assessments more than four years on. I said what I said. What I have said since and I say again today, is it doesn’t matter who is in the White House and or who’s in the Lodge, the Australia-US relationship transcends politics. It’s about shared values, shared history and shared interests and we have relied very heavily on the United States and the security they have provided to our part of the world and no doubt we will continue to rely on them. We have been a very solid partner and both countries absolutely stand up for the ideals of democracy and of course for international security, so my focus on US politics is about advancing Australia’s interests and Australia’s interests are advanced when there is good co-operation and co-ordination between who’s in the Lodge and who’s in the White House and who’s in the Congress and who’s in the Parliament and I think that has occurred not just during the Trump years, but in the years before that as well.
Thank you.