ANNELISE NIELSEN:
Joining us live now is Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Josh Frydenberg, thank you for your time. We are expecting some real pain for Victoria off the back of these restrictions, as many as 350,000 people losing their job by the end of the year. How are these changes today going to help?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as you say, these stage 4 restrictions are going to incur a very heavy economic toll as well as a very heavy emotional toll on Victorians. But ultimately, the best way to make progress on the health front and stem the tide of these new cases, is to follow these rules. In terms of the changes that we've announced today to JobKeeper and the expansion of the program, it will enable hundreds of thousands of more Victorians to access the program. It's $15.6 billion of additional spending, around $13 billion of which will go through to Victoria. The two changes are around the employer eligibility test and the other is around the employee eligibility test. When it comes to employers, they only need to be down either 30 or 50 percent in their turnover, based on their size, in the September quarter to be able to access JobKeeper in the December quarter. Previously they had to be down in both the June and September quarters. And when it comes to employee eligibility, the employees need to be on the books as of 1 July, previously they had to be on the books as of 1 March, and this will enable more people who have been hired by businesses in recent months to also access the JobKeeper payment.
ANNELISE NIELSEN:
Why have this apply nationally, why not just have targeted support for Victoria?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It is applying nationally because it's importantly a national program and there will be a benefit. Around 80 percent will flow through to Victoria and about 20 percent will flow through to the rest of the country. But these programs have been demand driven, Annelise, and the purpose of our announcements today is to take into account what has been transpiring in Victoria and clearly there's going to be a much greater demand. We're going to have 1.5 million Victorian workers on the JobKeeper program through the September quarter. That's nearly half of the private sector workforce in Victoria who are going to be supported by the Federal Government through JobKeeper.
ANNELISE NIELSEN:
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers says there's no point focusing on the height of the crisis without a comprehensive jobs plan to help Victorians out the other side of the crisis. Is he right?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look, the Labor Party continues to talk down the Australian economy, they don't provide any solutions, they're just knockers. Our focus has been on delivering for the Australian people through this crisis. The reality is our programs, JobKeeper, JobSeeker, the cash flow boost, the $750 payments to millions of Australian pensioners, the business incentives through the extension of the instant asset write off as well as the 50 percent accelerated depreciation allowance, are all designed to boost economic activity through a once in a century pandemic. That's what our focus has been. Jim Chalmers can defend why he took to the election $387 billion of higher taxes and what that would have done to the Australian economy right now. What I will continue to talk about is the positive plan that we have put in place to support Australians through this crisis. We've also announced, Annelise, a very substantial skills package, $2 billion to support more than 340,000 new places for training and for skills development. We're also bringing forward more than $4 billion worth of infrastructure projects that are shovel ready, designed to boost aggregate demand through the economy. As you know, we've pursued changes to the industrial relations system to develop more flexibility. Those changes that accompany JobKeeper are really important to those employers who are struggling at this time, around the duties, around the hours, around the location of their staff. And we want that to continue temporarily out to the end of March and that's what we will be introducing legislation to that effect. So our focus has absolutely always been on keeping people in a job and businesses in business.
ANNELISE NIELSEN:
There are people who will be facing long-term unemployment, though. Why have you not decided to change the rate of JobSeeker?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, in terms of JobSeeker, as you know, that is a $550 coronavirus supplement that will extend out to the end of September and then it steps down to December. But what we want to do is combine our JobSeeker programs, our JobKeeper programs, our training programs, our industrial relations reforms, our infrastructure projects bring-forward. It's all part of a comprehensive suite of measures, not to mention cutting red tape and the things that we've done there. What we have seen right now is a series of challenges be created as a result of the restrictions that are in place. Whether it's on child care, whether it's on paid pandemic leave, whether it's on this JobKeeper announcement, whether it's the support we've been giving to business around supply chains, and assurances of supply chains in light of the restrictions that Victoria have put in place. All of that has been trying to solve for problems that have been created by this once in a century pandemic. We're just getting on and doing. We're getting on and implementing our plan. We're getting on and saving jobs. That is what we're doing and I will leave that commentary to the Labor Party.
ANNELISE NIELSEN:
Your deputy, Michael Sukkar though, he says these problems aren't created by the pandemic, he says these problems are created by the Andrews Government. Yesterday he said to Sky News “it can't just be bad luck that Victoria's in this position, clearly the hotel quarantine catastrophe has led us to this point.” Do you agree?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
He's absolutely right about the quarantine issues and the significance and the seriousness of those. I mean the Premier yesterday faced a number of questions about that, and that is the reality. What happened in quarantine were significant failures that cannot be repeated. And what we are focused on as a Government is delivering the support, whether it's the economic support but also the health support to Victoria and to Victorians to manage this crisis. We have around 1,500 Defence Force personnel deployed in the State, we have hundreds of Commonwealth officials, we have AUSMAT teams, we've released more than 7 million masks from the national stockpile, we've funded 28 respiratory clinics that have undertaken more than 100,000 tests. We're doing everything possible to support Victoria during this crisis. We're all Australians, we all must work together and we need to focus on stemming the tide of these new cases.
ANNELISE NIELSEN:
You said that the Premier faced tough questions yesterday. That was from journalists. Should the Federal Government be giving Daniel Andrews a harder time over these failings and asking him to take responsibility?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, I'm not going to do your job. You can do your job. I'm going to do mine. My job is to…
ANNELISE NIELSEN:
No I’m talking about you doing your job, this is a Federal Government response.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, if you want me to spend my time criticising Daniel Andrews, that's not going to help deliver more people a safe job, Annelise, with the greatest respect. My job is to support the Australian community as the Treasurer. So too with the Prime Minister. Our focus is on ensuring that there is food on the shelves and there are not gaps in the supply chain. My job is to support businesses by boosting their cash flow so that they can actually deal with the demands that are on them. My job is to keep employers and employees connected. Now, you might want a slanging match in the media and you may think that may make for great headlines. What I'm focused on is delivering for Victorians. We are in a state of crisis right now. The emotional toll on Victorian families, on young women who are trying to home school their kids and hold down a job at the same time, on grandparents who are not seeing their kids, on businesses that have had to close their doors with millions of people uncertain about their job future. They're the real issues. I'll let Daniel Andrews explain what happened on quarantine. That's for him to explain. That's for him to account for. But there's no doubt there's been mistakes made. My job, and the Prime Minister's job, is to get help to people who need it most. Now we have stumped up more than $300 billion for the Australian community through this crisis. Now the States have stumped up $42 billion. I would welcome further contributions from them. But ultimately we're all Australians and we're all in this together. And as a Victorian I feel so devastated about what has transpired in my State. It should have never got to this, Annelise, it should have never got to this. But I'm not serving Victorians or Australians by engaging in a slanging match. My support goes to the Victorian people at this difficult time and we need to all think about that.
ANNELISE NIELSEN:
I'm sure people of Victoria agree with you on quite a few fronts there. Your job's also going to require you to come up to Canberra and isolate in a hotel for two weeks, then that's two more weeks you're in Parliament, four weeks away from your family who are under the same lockdown restrictions as everyone else, which we know are incredibly tough. That's quite a sacrifice.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Again, it comes with the job. And there shouldn't be one rule for politicians and another rule for the broader public. We all need to follow the medical advice and the rules and that's what I will be doing by isolating at this time. It’s difficult as the Treasurer to be doing that, and it's difficult for the Health Minister, a proud Victorian as well, to be doing that. But we must lead by example, so that's what we will be doing. But at the end of the day, I need to get to Canberra so we can pass this legislation through the Parliament so we can continue the support to the Australian people. We have vital work to do in Canberra. But it's not about me. It's about the selfless and brave health workers who are on the front line. It's about those thousands of Australians who are right now battling the coronavirus, some of whom are in intensive care units. It's about those people who are locked in their homes in Victoria, six million Victorians are feeling the pain of these restrictions and it's our job as the Government to help them get them through and that's what we're doing.
ANNELISE NIELSEN:
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, thank you for your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good to be with you.