ANDREW BOLT:
Josh Frydenberg, thank you so much for your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to be with you.
ANDREW BOLT:
Like you, I’m sure, I condemn the violence of some of the men who hijacked that protest. But the sight of police firing rubber pellets or bullets, or whatever they call them - those squash balls that leave a big bruise - at people wanting the freedom to go outside. Did that shock you?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
They were shocking images all round. And, as you say, we condemn the violence. It was very sad to hear nine police were hospitalised and the outcome of those demonstrations where more than 200 arrests were made. I mean, the public health orders have been put in place, and obviously, there are a lot of people who disagree with them. But the way you express your disagreement is not by breaching them, you need to find other means. But I think there is growing disquiet, we haven’t seen it just in Victoria; we’ve also seen it at the Queensland and New South Wales border, as well as in New South Wales. I think it reflects the fact people are getting to the end of their tether when it comes to lockdowns. There is a huge amount of fatigue out there. Lockdowns, Andrew, can’t continue forever, and nor should they. We need to learn to live with COVID-19. We need to be upfront with the public about what that means. There will be [inaudible], there will be cases, there will be deaths. But we do have a pathway out; a pathway out that we didn’t have last year, namely the vaccination program. We’ve set the targets at 70 per cent and 80 per cent, backed by the Doherty Institute modelling, and that gives us an opportunity to easy those restrictions and people to get about their lives in a COVID-safe way.
ANDREW BOLT:
Josh Frydenberg, you heard, probably, Daniel Andrews today saying, look, there is not another way. There is only this way of doing it. That’s why all the premiers are doing lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. What would you do different?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It’s clear we need to get as many people vaccinated as possible, because that program offers a reduction in the transmissibility of the virus, it leads to less people getting seriously sick, and obviously, it leads to less deaths. That’s what happens when you get to those numbers of 70 per cent and 80 per cent. The good news, Andrew, is we’re making good headway in progressing towards those targets; 1.8 million doses being delivered in just the last week. I mean, our last week has been better than the best week in the UK over the course of their vaccination program. But it does not mean the end of the virus. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, it is a fallacy to think you can eliminate the virus. You can suppress it, and we’re seeking to do that, but you can’t eliminate the virus and we’re going to have to learn to live with it, and that’s why we’re going to have to have that conversation with the Australian people, which the Prime Minister, myself and others are having right now.
ANDREW BOLT:
Yeah, but like I asked, what would you do differently? I mean, we’re all, Premier Andrews would say, the same. More and more vaccinations. But it seems to me that chasing people off beaches is counterproductive. What does that do? Chasing people off beaches, yelling at them for watching a sunset. Some of these restrictions seem absurd. Do you think it’s gone too far? Has the balance shifted too much in favour of restricting people’s freedoms, rather than making life better for them?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The biggest issue - I have talked about this as well in the past - is about schools, and about the inability of kids to get an education in the classroom. While we look at the health outcome about preventing COVID, we’ve also got to think about the other health outcomes, namely the impact on people’s mental health and the terrible impact it’s having on a lot of young people. So, it’s about getting the balance right. I would love to see a system where we’re able to mitigate some of the impacts of having kids in the classroom, so more kids can get together in the classroom and get their education. Because, as you know, we’ve had more than 200 days in Melbourne where we’ve been subject to lockdown, and kids have lost more than half a year of their schooling in the classroom. When you’re in a most disadvantaged background, you may not have English as your first language, you may not have the computer systems at home, you may not have the parental supervision - it’s in those cases, that the kids are the most disadvantaged, and that is why having a classroom that is functional, where kids can, despite the broader restrictions in place, they can get their education from their teachers in the classroom. I think that would have been, certainly, a much better outcome than what we’ve seen.
ANDREW BOLT:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And let them get back in the playgrounds too. I’m out of time. Just quickly, if there are lockdowns after Christmas - you keep saying you’re going to turn off the tap - will you really turn off the tap for a state that imposes a lockdown after Christmas?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
There is going to be no excuse for the premiers and the chief ministers not to adhere to the plan they agreed to at National Cabinet. So there should be no expectation of the Governments emergency economic support continuing on the scale that is has to today. We’re picking up the tab for, pretty much, all the income support and 50/50 in the business support…
ANDREW BOLT:
Absolutely. I hope you stick to that. Sorry, we’ve run out of time. Josh Frydenberg, thank you so much for joining me.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
All the very best.