ALLISON LANGDON:
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg joins us now from Canberra. Treasurer Good morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, Ally. Nice to be with you.
ALLISON LANGDON:
So, I mean, that makes sense, doesn’t it? That a former Labor Premier knows the source?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Bob Carr was a waste of space as foreign minister. He now suffers from a bad bout of relevance deprivation syndrome. He was described – when he was in government he was described by his own colleagues as a narcissist and self‑indulgent. Peter Dutton’s made it very clear that that’s a baseless allegation, the tweet should be deleted. But I know the Labor Party will want to talk about text messages and free character assessments; we want to talk about creating more jobs and the lowest unemployment rate that we’ve seen in more than 13 years. That’s my focus. That’s what I’m speaking about today to the Australian Industry Group. Because people watching your program, Ally, they’re thinking about cost of living and electricity prices doubled under Labor. They’re thinking about higher wages, and what we’re seeing with job switching across the economy is that wages have been going up for those people who have moved jobs. What we’re talking about is job security as well.
ALLISON LANGDON:
And all of that is very relevant, Treasurer, but the problem that you’ve got here – and we’ll get to some of that stuff in a minute – but the problem you’ve got is this is going to keep happening. It’s going to continue to be a distraction until someone puts their hand up and just cops that it was them.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Barnaby Joyce, with respect to his text message, made it very clear that he reserved – he gave an unreserved apology to Scott Morrison. That was accepted. And I’ve seen up close both Barnaby Joyce and Scott Morrison around the cabinet table, around the National Security Committee, around the Expenditure Review Committee, and it’s a very constructive relationship. And we’ve landed together some very difficult issues like net zero by 2050. We’ve got a job to do, and that’s creating more jobs for the Australian people. And that’s what we’ve been doing. And that’s what I as Treasurer, the Prime Minister and others will continue to do.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Look, I mean, the cost of living is forefront in most people’s minds at the moment. But, I mean, however you spin it, the PM’s got a problem when you’ve got Barnaby’s text, you’ve got an aged care crisis, you’ve got MPs attending anti‑vax protests, you’ve got backbenchers threatening to cross the floor on key legislation. It’s not exactly a picture of unity right now, is it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, no‑one’s pretending dealing with a once‑in‑a‑century pandemic is easy, and we are, you know, dealing with some real challenges, as you say, in aged care. But what we have done is put in place a surge workforce drawing on the private health sector workforce, and they’ve helped meet 78,000 shifts as a result of our initiative there. What we’ve just recently announced is a $800 retention bonus for people who are in the aged care sector. That’s going to be important. That builds on the retention bonus to nurses that we announced last year.
We also put in place $17.7 billion in the budget last year for aged care, which includes 33,000 more training places for carers and a whole range of other initiatives. So we are focused on delivering better outcomes. But no‑one’s pretending that it’s an easy environment. But the key focus for me is creating more jobs. And we are on the verge of full employment in Australia with an unemployment rate, Ally, with a 3 in front of it. That would be the first time since 1974. And the Labor Party said very publicly early on in the pandemic the biggest test of the Morrison Government’s management of COVID will be what happens to the unemployment rate. It’s lower today than it was under Labor, significantly so.
ALLISON LANGDON:
I mean, unemployment, it isn’t the only sign of a strong economy, as you know. And I ready this morning you’re urging people to change jobs to get a pay rise. How do you then ensure that any wage rise won’t be eaten up by interest rate hikes?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as we know, interest rates are at an historic low. So if you’ve got a $500,000 mortgage today, you’re paying $600 a month less in interest than you did when the Labor Party was last in government. Now, interest rates, and that decision is one for the independent Reserve Bank, and they’ve been very clear, including in a speech just last week by the Reserve Bank Governor, that he’s not about to move on that. Our focus, though, is driving down lower electricity prices, and they’ve come down by around 10 per cent since December 2018. They doubled under the Labor Party. My job is creating more jobs and that’s what we’re doing every single day.
ALLISON LANGDON:
All right, look, I know you’re talking about a date for international borders opening fully. Do you know that date at this point? And also, I spoke to a tourism operator last night. So they’re alive, they’ve survived the pandemic, but they need a big cash injection to get up and running again. Will you help out in the regard?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Ally, as you know, we’ve pulled out all stops through this pandemic to support all sectors, including the tourism sector. We were actually funding zookeepers, aquariums, wildlife parks and the like. We underwrote transport routes and, of course, now that our vaccination rate is reaching a higher rate we’ve been changing our border policies so we’ve allowed more skilled workers in, more students. The next step would be with tourists, and that’s what we’ll consider today at the National Security Committee. But our health professionals have been looking at the border restrictions with respect to tourists in the context of a rising vaccination rate and the rolling out of our booster program.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Hey, Treasurer, enjoy this week. It ain’t going to be dull in Canberra, that’s for sure.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you.