ALLISON LANDGDON:
Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, joins me now from Canberra. Nice to see you this morning, Treasurer.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to see you, Ally.
ALLISON LANDGDON:
The Queensland Premier said yesterday she’s not keen on reopening until kids are vaccinated. We know that nowhere in the world is giving the jab to kids under 12 yet. That pretty much stuffs up your plans, doesn’t it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That position is not consistent with the medical advice we have, that is that Australia should stick to the plan and open up at 70 to 80 per cent vaccination rates. We do know that kids can get COVID. We also know from the medical experts that the virus is much less severe, the illnesses are much less severe in kids, and that the vaccine has been approved for those who are 12 to 15, as well as of course the 16-plus population. We are rolling out the vaccine to those people...
ALLISON LANDGDON:
So what did you make of her comments then...
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I thought it was another delay of what is inevitable, namely that Queensland and Western Australia should join with the rest of the country and open up in accordance with the plan. My message to the premiers and the chief ministers is very clear: do not delay the inevitable. You have to learn to live with COVID. COVID may come to your state within a week, it might be a month, it might be a little bit after that. But the reality is we can't eliminate the virus. There's only one pathway out, Ally, that's to get people vaccinated. It's so pleasing to see the vaccination rates in NSW and Victoria on the rise. We want to see Queensland and Western Australia catch up with them. Because it's a national target and it's one that will give people hope. Yesterday, we saw 80 of Australia's largest companies go very public in calling on the premiers, the chief ministers and the Federal Government to stay the course, to give people hope and to stick to the plan.
ALLISON LANDGDON:
We saw a very different message from NSW Premier, she is waiting for no-one. The issue is you could be a world-class negotiator, there's no way you're getting all the premiers on the same page?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, at the end of the day they've got to serve their communities and their communities are going to be best served by sticking to the plan. It was prepared by the world leading Doherty Institute. I put to you, if it's not 70 to 80 per cent when the states open, what is that vaccination rate? When do they believe that those tourism businesses in Queensland can once again have their customers come from interstate? When can Western Australian construction industry and mining players be able to get the skilled labour force that they need to continue to create jobs? That's what we need to focus on. Strengthening the economy. Also giving families hope. One of the great consequences and costs of this pandemic and the lockdowns has been the mental health issues. And I was so moved by that story on your program the other morning, Daisy's story, which just told of the impact on our young kids that the lockdowns are having. The only way we can avoid that is to open up in accordance with the plan.
ALLISON LANDGDON:
Are you going to cut off support once you reach 80 per cent vaccination rates?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Ally, I have made it very clear, the states and territories should have no expectation that that level of economic support that we are providing today will continue once we reach those 70 to 80 per cent targets. The Doherty Institute modelling said that stringent lockdowns become unlikely at that rate. There may be some transitions where you need to keep some health restrictions in place as you gradually open up. The idea we will be providing income and business support on the scale we are now is wrong. We can't afford to do it indefinitely.
ALLISON LANDGDON:
Harvey Norman, as you know, has made a huge profit last year is repaying the $6 million it received in JobKeeper. That's nice, isn't it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It's very welcome. In March of this year I was doing a radio interview where they asked me about Harvey Norman. I said I would welcome them paying back, I would welcome any company in the position to back some JobKeeper to do so...
ALLISON LANDGDON:
Why don't you force them all to pay it back?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
When we put in place the program, the country was staring into an economic abyss. We knew if we didn't put in place a program like JobKeeper, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Australians would lose their jobs. JobKeeper worked. It was described by the Governor of the Reserve Bank as a remarkable program...
ALLISON LANDGDON:
Treasurer, I get all of that. With great respect, JobKeeper was amazing. It did its job. People who asked for the money at the time didn't know how their business was going to play out during that lockdown. Shouldn’t everyone who made a profit, paid bonuses to executives do the same thing as Harvey Norman and pay that money back?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I would welcome companies who are in a position to pay it back. If you're putting to me that we should change the law retrospectively on people who applied and received that support in the middle of an economic crisis, I would say no to that. If the Labor Party is proposing to actually go back and get the money from small businesses from around the country who received JobKeeper, then we'll oppose that. Because the Labor Party is now coming after small business; 98 per cent of the recipients of JobKeeper were small business. You go and talk to any small business that received JobKeeper and they will tell you it was a lifeline. Do you remember the images, Ally, last year of tens of thousands of our fellow Australians lining up outside Centrelink? Programs like yours were talking about it being like the Great Depression, reminiscent of the Great Depression. JobKeeper came in. It suddenly stopped that fall in business and consumer confidence. It gave people hope. It gave people and businesses certainty that they could plan for the future. Without it, we would have lost more than 700,000 jobs. Our unemployment rate could have reached 15 per cent. It's now at a 12-year low. JobKeeper not only stemmed the tide of those job losses, but actually supported the recovery. That's critical to understand.
ALLISON LANDGDON:
Treasurer, don't disagree with you there, I think when it's taxpayers money and we hear that people rorted the system it doesn't sit comfortably with people. We appreciate your time as always, have a good day.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thanks.