JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning. Well, the situation in Victoria and South Australia is looking more promising by the day, and we’re hopeful that those lockdowns will be lifted this week. The situation in New South Wales is more difficult and is different. But the message from our medical experts is abundantly clear - go and get vaccinated. If you want your family to be safe, go and get vaccinated. If you want to make lockdowns a thing of the past, go and get vaccinated. If you want Australia to open up, go and get vaccinated. Getting vaccinated is our ticket out of this crisis. And significantly, there is now alignment between the medical advice and the situation on the ground in Greater Sydney. Our economic support is also making its way to those people who need it most. More than 700,000 payments have now been processed by Services Australia at a cost of more than $350 million. More than 90 per cent of those payments are being conducted online, and payments are being made as quickly as 40 minutes. We also have business support payments that we are in partnership with the government of New South Wales with that are making its way out through Services NSW. Registrations have been open, and today the applications have been officially opened, and Services NSW have said that that money will be flowing in a matter of days. Money will be available to sole traders and small and medium-size businesses and not-for-profit organisations. If you are a business with a turnover between $75,000 and $50 million you’ll receive between $1,500 a week and $10,000 a week, which approximates to about 40 per cent of your payroll. This is a significant amount of money that will help alleviate some of the pain that these businesses are now encountering. And, importantly, there’s a requirement that these businesses do not reduce their head count. These payments that we are providing in terms of income support through Services Australia is happening faster than would otherwise happen under JobKeeper. This money is making its way into people’s pockets, as I said, as quickly as 40 minutes from the time of the application. These payments are also very targeted in that they are not based on the reduction in the turnover of the business that you work for but in terms of the hours of work that you have lost. If you have lost between 8 and 19 hours you receive $375. If you’ve lost 20 hours or more you receive a payment of $600 a week. And the net is also cast wider with these payments with casuals – not just permanent casuals as under JobKeeper, but all casuals – depending on the number of hours of work that they have lost being eligible for these disaster payments. We never know what’s around the corner with this pandemic. There are new challenges each and every day. And that’s why we plan for those contingencies. But the payments that we have available – income support and business support – are very significant and are designed to help those Australians who are in need. Are there any questions?
JOURNALIST:
There are at least two payments that are designed to allow people [inaudible] these are single parent and then youth allowance payment. Do you concede that those people will be in financial hardship because they’re not eligible for COVID payments, and would you consider making them eligible for COVID support?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, a couple of things. Firstly, our welfare system is designed that you can work a certain number of hours each fortnight without affecting the sum of that payment – that’s the income-free area – after which, if you earn more through working casual hours then that starts to eat away at the level of that welfare support. So there’s effectively a taper rate. What this means in practice is that if you’ve lost those hours that you were working your welfare support can actually go up. So the system is designed to flex to increase if you’ve lost some of those other casual hours. That will be occurring in a number of cases right now. At the same time we are very conscious of this issue and continue to examine all our settings. But as it stands right now, somebody who is on welfare support, who had been working a large number of hours and, therefore, had their welfare support reduced by a commensurate amount will now see their welfare support increase as a result of them no longer getting that extra income from those extra hours.
JOURNALIST:
But that welfare support won’t increase to the level that a COVID support payment would support them, is that correct?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, it depends on what level of COVID support payment. As you know, in the earlier stages of this pandemic we had a JobKeeper payment, we had a business support payment, we had a $750 payment, a multiple of which went out to people who are veterans and carers, as well as a COVID supplement. This is a different set of circumstances that we’re dealing with right now. The economy is in a different position. But, as I said, we continue to examine this particular issue. But there is inbuilt flexibility in our welfare system for people’s welfare payments to go up if they’ve lost hours of work.
JOURNALIST:
Why won’t the government bring back JobKeeper when there are businesses outside of the lockdown jurisdictions that are suffering because of the lockdowns in other places?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, when we introduced JobKeeper, firstly, the whole country was effectively into the lockdown. Right now we have three states, but hopefully two states are coming out of that lockdown this week. The labour market was also at a different point in time last year when Treasury said to me that there was a potential for the unemployment rate to go as high as 15 per cent. As you know, it came down to 4.9 per cent in the most recent jobs data, and we’ve also seen job ads being increased month on month. This is, though, a particular issue that we’re seeing obviously with a lengthier lockdown in New South Wales, and the payments that we’re rolling out there, as I said, they’re faster than what would have otherwise occurred under JobKeeper – the payments being made in some 40 minutes or more. And also they’re more targeted because they’re based on the number of hours lost as opposed to the income or the turnover reduction of the business that you work for. And also the net has been cast a little wider with all casuals being eligible for these payments. I’ll give you one very practical example where this payment is working more effectively for a business that would have been ineligible for JobKeeper. It’s a national business. It has, though, more than 50 pubs in the three states that are now in lockdown – New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. They have about 2,000 staff. Because their turnover has not declined by more than 50 per cent nationally, they said they would not be eligible for JobKeeper today, so their 2,000 staff in those states in lockdown would not be eligible for JobKeeper today. Yet their staff are eligible for that disaster payment through Services Australia because those staff have seen their hours reduced as the pubs that they work for are closed. So it does work differently in different circumstances, but the payments that we have today – the income support payments, the business payments – they’re significant and substantive. They’re comprehensive and they are going to provide welcome relief to people in need.
JOURNALIST:
New South Wales Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, said the gaps in disaster payments need to be addressed in the extended lockdown. Does there need to be more support for those who are aren’t eligible for the current disaster payments, such as those already on a welfare payment?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, our policies are never set and forget. And one thing that COVID has taught us is you never know what’s around the corner and you have to be flexible and you have to be able to respond to the changing set of circumstances. So we continue to assess all our payments, both business and income support, and to determine the right payments for the right circumstances. As I said, the payments that we have in place today – both income and business – are providing very significant support to those in need. For example, in New South Wales, when you combine our business payments together with our income support payments, the expectation is more than half a billion dollars a week will be going from the commonwealth government out to people in New South Wales, and even more so when you combine the New South Wales government’s contribution.
JOURNALIST:
Of the 700,000 payments processed so far, do you have an proximate figure for how many of those are in New South Wales and how many in Victoria?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, in New South Wales we’ve already seen more than 650,000 payments being processed. So around 400,000 increasing by the day the number of individuals who have been on those payments. And, as you know, you get them now from week to week without having to re-apply. The last numbers I saw out of Victoria were more than 50,000 payments have been processed out of Victoria. Obviously those numbers will increase in the days ahead as more people apply as well based on the number of hours that they have lost. Importantly, money has been available in Victoria for hours lost from day one of this lockdown. And that’s really important – that the federal government has provided this very significant support effective from day one of the lockdown in Victoria.
JOURNALIST:
Do you concede that the government’s mixed messaging on AstraZeneca has led to the spread of vaccines misinformation?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, on AstraZeneca, as you know, we’ve taken the ATAGI advice and that advice has meant that people in a certain age cohort have not taken the AstraZeneca, even though it had been available. What I do welcome is the new advice from ATAGI, which makes it very clear that for adults in Greater Sydney the advice is to go and get vaccinated, not to wait for alternative vaccines, but go and get vaccinated. And in the case of AstraZeneca, as the Prime Minister said yesterday, 1.3 million doses are available, and this is a vaccine that we’re making here in Australia under license through CSL. What is very clear is that when you have outbreaks the priority must be on quickly getting vaccinated because having that vaccination protects you, protects your family, protects the community at large.
JOURNALIST:
Should Sydney be a priority for vaccination? Should other states that are doing well at the moment redirect their vaccine doses to where it’s needed?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the Prime Minister has already made more doses available to New South Wales. I mean, the whole country right now is seeing in the case of New South Wales more than 150 cases a day and in Victoria and South Australia we’ve also seen recent cases. So there is a claim for other states to get their public vaccinated as quickly as possible. But where there are dose that can be made available to New South Wales, they should be.
JOURNALIST:
Victoria is hopefully on track to end lockdown this week. Regardless of what that includes, should schools resume face-to-face learning from Wednesday?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I’m hopeful that that does occur. I mean, I think unfortunately school students have had too much time out of the classroom, and that’s taken its toll not just on their academic advancement but also on kids’ wellbeing. And it’s often kids in the more disadvantaged parts of our community that suffer the most. And that is, you know, something that we’ve heard from the experts themselves. And I know, for example, the Murdoch Children’s Institute has done a lot of really good work about how we can mitigate against some of the dangers of COVID and at the same time get the kids back into the classroom. That’s how all states should be thinking – thinking very creatively about how more kids can spend more time in the classroom as we learn to live with the virus.
JOURNALIST:
What do you make of George Christensen attending an anti-lockdown protest?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I would hope that no-one is attending an anti-lockdown protest, whether a colleague of mine or not. We know that these anti-lockdown protests in New South Wales, Victoria and elsewhere do pose a threat to public health. Not only are people breaking the law but they’re also endangering the community at large. And that’s why those scenes out of New South Wales and Victoria with those mass protests were so concerning and so shocking.
JOURNALIST:
Have negotiations with Moderna for manufacturing its vaccine in Australia stalled?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Not that I’m aware. We’ve had good progress with the various vaccine manufacturers. And I do point out to you the announcement just yesterday of the 85 million new doses that are coming to Australia from Pfizer. They’re booster shots, but they’re on top of the other vaccines that we’ve secured from the other suppliers.
JOURNALIST:
Do you feel snubbed at all by Pfizer that they don’t want to manufacturer the vaccine here in Australia?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as you know, mRNA vaccines are not being manufactured anywhere today right now that was not manufacturing them prior to this particular crisis. So Australia has sovereign manufacturing capability with CSL. I think that’s of great use to Australia and it’s certainly useful in countering this pandemic. That being said, Pfizer as an mRNA vaccine is something that we’ve, you know, sought to get as many vaccines as possible. Yesterday 85 million is a step forward. As you know, we’ve brought forward 3 million doses from Q4 into Q3. We’ve now seen more than 11 million jabs being delivered, more than a million doses a week. That is a really positive step forward with the rollout. The most vulnerable cohorts – the over 70s – has seen substantial vaccination across that part of our population, the over 50s. But the message from the medical experts is abundantly clear – go and get vaccinated. If you want to protect you and your family, get vaccinated. If you want to see lockdowns become a thing of the past, get vaccinated. If you want to see Australia open up, get vaccinated. Our ticket out of this crisis is vaccination. That’s the message to every Australian. Thank you.