JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you Jan and Nihao Kitchen here in my local electorate of Kooyong, for inviting us here today to eat some fine food with the Australian-Chinese community, but also to remind all Australians how important it is to wrap our arms around the Chinese-Australian community at this very difficult time. The Coronavirus is very serious, more than 64 thousand people have been affected globally, more than thirteen hundred people have lost their lives. The government has acted swiftly putting in place strong travel restrictions, taking the best possible medical advice. But at the same time that we put those restrictions in place, we have to realise that our Australian-Chinese community needs our support at this particular time, including the hospitality industry, the tourism industry, and wonderful restaurants such as these. So thank you very much.
The other thing I wanted to say today is that we have announced the Ad Tech inquiry into digital platforms. This is a new ACCC inquiry into the Facebook’s and the Google’s and the other search engines and social media that operate in this space. We know that the digital frontier is the new frontier, and through the ACCC’s ground-breaking work, for every 100 dollars spent on online advertising excluding classifieds, 47 dollars is spent with Google, 24 dollars with Facebook and the rest with other platforms. So they are very dominant in this space, and we need to ensure that our regulatory framework is fit for purpose, that consumers are protected and that companies are operating on a level playing field.
The final point I wanted to make is in relation to a story on the front page of the Australian Financial Review, which is about the strong growth that we have seen in some aspects of the retail sector. This is a very difficult time for the economy after the floods, the fires, the global trade tensions between China and the United States, and now with the Coronavirus, but the Australian economy is remarkably resilient. We saw in December unemployment fell to 5.1 per cent and we know that the Australian economy continues to grow, with the International Monetary Fund saying that the Australian economy will grow faster than the United States, Canada, Japan and other major economies this year. So we’ll get through these challenging times, we’ll wrap our arms around the Australian-Chinese community, but we do face some challenges and the Australian economy is strong enough to withstand those.
QUESTION:
Treasurer, do you have any estimates about how much this is going to cost the Australian economy at this stage?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well we do know that it will be a significant cost to the Australian economy. Not just to the tourism sector but also the international education sector, and we’re also starting to see some of the effects felt in our export sector, including in agriculture. 1.4 million Chinese tourists came to Australia last year, over 200 thousand Chinese students are studying in Australia, so no doubt the Coronavirus and its effects will be impacting upon the Australian economy. But at the same time we make no apology for the strong measures we have put in place to protect the Australian people, these are precautionary measures and these are based on the best advice of our medical experts.
QUESTION:
So you support extending that ban? Why is that important? Obviously China’s embassy has been quite disappointed with the extension of that ban.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well 58 countries have put in a form of travel restrictions and Australia is one of those. The key aspect here is that we need to protect the Australian people, and we have seen 15 cases here in Australia, and of those five have been cleared with people’s immune systems responding effectively. So it is a challenging situation, it will have an impact on the economy. The impact on the economy will be more significant than it was with the SARS virus because the Chinese economy is four times bigger than it was at the time of the SARS virus, as well as Australia’s economic connectivity with China is a lot greater since that period as well.
QUESTION:
How long can this really continue for? We’ve already seen Chinese businesses in China town start to close up. An extension of that ban, that’s just going to hurt them even more isn’t it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well that’s why we’re here with Jan because we want Australians to come to restaurants such as these and not to affect their behaviour. We do know that this will be a challenging time but we will get through it, just as we have with previous cases like SARS and MERS.
QUESTION:
With the spread of the virus are you concerned that it could be coming through container ports unchecked?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well Australian Border Force are very conscious of that threat and they have put in place particular compliance activities and they are working with bio-security officers in that regard.
QUESTION:
So are you worried about it at all? Are you confident you have got a handle on it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We are cognisant of the threat and we have put, we believe, the right measures in place to deal with it.
QUESTION:
I’ve just got a couple of questions here from the ABC, I’m just going to read this out for you. Is it disappointing that discussions with the UK’s Foreign Secretary about Huawei last week were leaked to the media?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I’m not going to go into that. We obviously have a close economic and strategic relationship with the United Kingdom, and it’s a partnership that will even be solidified further with the free trade agreement that we’re both working on.
QUESTION:
Do you think it’s right for an Australian parliamentary delegation to have its planned trip to the UK now cancelled as a result?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I’m not going to add to the commentary on that matter, other than to say our relationship with the United Kingdom couldn’t be stronger.
QUESTION:
Are you disappointed that Australia is now in a diplomatic dispute with Britain?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well I would put to you that actually our diplomatic ties have never been stronger. Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison work very effectively together.