JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The Australian economy is recovering well. Half a million new jobs have been created since the last Budget in October of last year. Over the last 12 months, the Australian economy has outperformed all major advanced economies around the world. But the job is not done. There is still more to do. Australia is still in the midst of a global pandemic. More than 800,000 new COVID cases a day. Europe has gone into a double dip recession. Only recently, we saw a state-wide lockdown in Western Australia. We must secure Australia's economic recovery, tonight's Budget will do exactly that. Tonight's Budget will invest more in our COVID health response to keep Australians safe. Tonight's Budget will invest in infrastructure and skills to create more jobs and provide incentives to business to do what they do best, hire, innovate and to grow. Tonight's Budget will see record commitments on essential services, disability support, mental health, aged care and women's safety. Australia's strong position today is not the result of luck. Australia makes its own luck. And tonight's Budget will lay out the Morrison Government's economic plan to secure Australia's recovery. Are there any questions?
QUESTION:
Treasurer, your second pandemic Budget, how hard was this one to put together compared to the one in October?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well every Budget is challenging and in a pandemic, it's even more so. A lot of work has been put in by a lot of people. But tonight's Budget is not about us. Tonight's Budget is about the Australian people, about guaranteeing their essential services, about creating more jobs and keeping Australians safe from COVID‑19.
QUESTION:
Treasurer it’s expected the NDIS might wind up costing more than Medicare, sometime quite soon as well. How significantly are you going to have to change the NDIS to make it sustainable?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well in tonight's Budget, you'll see additional funding for the NDIS. This is a wonderful program. It's made a profound change to the lives of Australians with disabilities and their families. We all know stories of people who have been assisted by the NDIS and under the Coalition, the NDIS will always be fully funded. We need to ensure that it continues to remain sustainable, but under the Coalition we are deeply committed to the NDIS and we'll always ensure that it is fully funded.
QUESTION:
Treasurer, at what point do you think next year the borders will open? And how much of a wild card factor is the vaccine rollout speed?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well in tonight's Budget we make some assumptions around vaccine rollout and around border closures and around the containment measures that are put in place in respect to COVID‑19. But it's very hard to be precise in the middle of a pandemic. There's a lot of uncertainty, globally and domestically with respect to the virus. So tonight's Budget has those assumptions in place. But the key point is, we'll always follow the medical advice and we'll always do our best to keep Australians safe.
QUESTION:
Do you have a quarter in which you think it might happen? First, second, third, end of the year?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
No surprise, tune in at 7:30pm tonight.