ALLISON LANGDON:
A very good morning to you, Treasurer.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, Ally, nice to be with you.
ALLISON LANGDON:
You too. So, you beauty, we are all getting a pay rise, are we?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The focus is get more Australians into jobs and that has been occurring and if we get more competition in the labour market and employers are seeking more employees, that is going to drive up wages. It is also going to repair the budget because more Australians in work means lower welfare payments as well as more tax revenue. That is how we delivered the first balanced budget in eleven years prior to the pandemic. That is how we are going to get back to a stronger budget position over time.
ALLISON LANGDON:
You want more people in the workforce. Women here, I think, are your untapped resource. Does that mean that we will see something in this Budget for affordable childcare, free pre-school for three and four-year olds?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I’m not going to get into Budget speculation. If I had a dollar for every budget speculation question I’ve had, I would be a richer person, that’s for sure…
ALLISON LANGDON:
You would be able to pay off the debt.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Not quite. It is a little higher than that. Ally, we have put a focus on workforce participation. We have seen female workforce participation at a record high. And we’ve also seen the gender pay gap starting to close. Obviously, that is important as well. But everything we can do to get more people into work, that’s what our focus is.
ALLISON LANGDON:
You were criticised last year for the Budget being too male-focused. Can you let us know, is there going to be in there specifically for women and families?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
There are always measures in there that support women and families. Last year's Budget has actually helped deliver the strong economic position we are in right now. Let's not forget Australia has outperformed all major economies across the world in the last year. The unemployment rate at 5.6 per cent is significantly lower than what either Treasury or the Reserve Bank were forecasting. Australia has been the first major advanced economy to see employment levels get back to where they were pre-pandemic. Business and consumer confidence has picked up. So the Budget and our economic plan is working. But we are still in the middle of the pandemic. That is why we can't take the foot off the accelerator. That’s why we’re going to continue to support job creation. Of course, families and women are a key part of that.
ALLISON LANGDON:
I have to say thank goodness for iron ore, record prices. That should add $20 billion. We still have a half a trillion dollar debt. That is not going to be a priority this Budget?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The way to repair the Budget is to repair the economy. As I said, Ally, we got welfare dependency down to a thirty-year low before the pandemic. That helped us deliver the first balanced Budget. So if you get more people into work, you actually get more revenue coming in and you get less welfare payments going out. In the speech today, there is some analysis by Treasury that said for the 200,000 people who are in work that we didn't think would be in work just a few months ago, that is going to produce a $5 billion dividend for the Budget bottom line. That is where our focus is.
ALLISON LANGDON:
What do you expect the deficit to be next year?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Again, you are going to have to turn on May 11th for Budget night. We are going to see an improvement in the Budget bottom line over the course of this year. And that is because we've seen more people in work than we expected.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Keeping those cards close to your chest this morning, aren't you?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Always.
ALLISON LANGDON:
I want your thoughts on this - how is it that we can't get our hands on enough Pfizer for our first jabs when the UK has just secured 60 million booster shots?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We got an extra 20 million and the Prime Minister outlined that. We adopted a portfolio approach with the AstraZeneca vaccine, with Novaxav and, of course, with the Pfizer vaccine. With respect to AstraZeneca, we have encountered not just supply issues, but we’ve also encountered issues with respect to the age cohort that can get that vaccine. That is not an Australian-only problem. That is one that has been experienced by other countries. And linkages to some health challenges for people under the age of 50. We can only follow the medical advice. We can only secure as many vaccines as possible. That is what we have sought to do.
ALLISON LANGDON:
The UK is getting these extra 60 million by the middle of this year. That is their third jab effectively. We will be waiting until the end of the year.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Again, we have got an extra 20 million. We have already rolled out vaccines to more than two million Australians. We will continue to roll out. We have got more GPs on the case. We have got some of those larger vaccination sites. Of course, we don't have the same level of outbreaks here in Australia that the UK have had. I mean, it has been absolutely devastating to see the death toll in the UK, not to mention the United States and India as well.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Just before you go, are we going to war with China?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we are not about to go to war with anyone. Australia is a great beneficiary of a peaceful Indo-Pacific. That is our key priority to ensure peace in our region and stability in our region. But at the same time, we always need to have a capable and well-resourced Defence Force. As you know, under previous governments, the funding for the Defence Force went down to the lowest level since 1938 - 1.65 per cent of GDP - and now we are above 2 per cent. We are focused on getting our Defence Forces as capable and as well-resourced as possible. Just yesterday the Prime Minister made a significant announcement of more than $700 million to upgrade some of those bases in the north.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Treasurer, always good to talk to you. Thanks for coming on this morning. Just one more time; what is the deficit next year going to be? It was worth a try.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Turn on Budget night.
ALLISON LANGDON:
We will talk to you soon. Thanks for that, Treasurer.