JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, Jenna. Good morning, Basil. Good morning, Xavier and all your listeners.
JENNA CLARKE:
Welcome to Perth – on the phone, obviously.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I’m stuck in Canberra.
JENNA CLARKE:
Yeah. You’ve made an exciting announcement overnight about some loans for small businesses that maybe copped a bit of a battering over COVID. How is this going to help Western Australian businesses and small business owners who have been impacted by the pandemic?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, since the start of the pandemic, we’ve had a loans scheme that’s been put in place that has offered loans to small businesses and more than 70,000 loans have been delivered, worth more than $6 billion. But to be eligible, the small businesses needed to be on JobKeeper in the March quarter of this year. We’ve now removed that requirement. So, if you’re a small or medium‑sized business with a turnover of less than $250 million, you can get a loan of up to $5 million for up to 10 years with the first two years repayment free, and the Commonwealth will guarantee 80 per cent of the loan, the bank lender will guarantee the other 20 per cent of the loan; and the whole idea is to increase access to finance and to reduce the cost of finance to small businesses. And that money can be spent on everything from working capital, to expanding their business, for example, buying new machinery or equipment, or indeed refinancing existing loans as well.
BASIL ZEMPILAS:
Treasurer, that’s great leadership and I think that’s what the Australian public have looked to the federal and state governments around the country for leadership throughout this pandemic. But I have got to say, somebody new to leadership in the political space, I think I reflect the views of many when I say what we’ve seen over the last months and particularly the last weeks and the last couple of days, the argy-bargy between State Premiers and our Federal leaders hasn’t been good for anybody. Would you agree it hasn’t been a great look?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, look I think our focus indeed is on our communities whether they’re in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria or any state and territory, and we are first and foremost Australians and the National Cabinet has been a process by which the premiers can come together with the Prime Minister. And indeed Mark McGowan is also the Treasurer in WA, so I’ve been meeting with him through a grouping of the Treasurers. And at National Cabinet, there was an agreement to a plan where, when we get to 70 and 80 per cent vaccination rates across the country and in individual jurisdictions, that we can start to reopen, because I think it’s a fallacy to think that we can eliminate COVID. No other country has done so, and that means we have to learn to live with COVID, which means a pretty up‑front honest conversation with the Australian people about what that means. It does mean there will be people who do get sick. It means that there will be more cases and it means that, tragically, there will be deaths. But if we don’t set that target and if we don’t have that plan, then we can’t live in lockdown forever. At some point, we need to reopen. I understand in Western Australia that the circumstance has been somewhat different from the other states and you’ve been to be able to get about your lives without the long lockdowns that we’ve seen in New South Wales and in Victoria, but there are also plenty of businesses across Western Australia who are losing customers because of the closed borders and, in fact, we agreed with the Western Australian Government just recently to provide economic support on a 50‑50 basis for tourism businesses in WA. And so, we’re going to have to open up those borders at some point and that’s why we’ve based on the medical advice and the plan that was agreed by the Doherty Institute and that’s why I say to all your listeners this morning, please get vaccinated because the vaccination program is our way out of this crisis.
JENNA CLARKE:
Of course and Treasurer, and one thing – we speak about small business and things like that, but, I guess, the engine room of the Australian economy is obviously the mining sector that comes out of WA. With that opening at a 70 to 80 per cent vaccination rate, a lot of Western Australians, particularly the parliamentarians over here, would be asking why would you want to risk opening up at that rate and maybe destroying or denting that revenue source?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, at the end of the day, we’re going to have to open up. We can’t live with the notion that we can eliminate COVID. I mean, no country has done it and you have you’ve heard from the Doherty Institute themselves. They say zero COVID forever is unrealistic. And so, we have to prepare for that day and the best way to prepare for that day is by getting the vaccination rates up. And I don’t think it does endanger the mining industry by having high levels of vaccination, the appropriate health restrictions in place, but then reopening the economy and opening up the borders.
BASIL ZEMPILAS:
Fair enough.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I don’t think it does. I think you can do – have the wonderfully strong resources sector in WA at the same time as open borders.
XAVIER ELLIS:
Now, Josh, the only people behaving worse than politicians at the moment is the Carlton footy club. What’s going on there?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Are you saying that as a Hawk, are you?
XAVIER ELLIS:
Yeah, we’ve waded through our little problems. We’re out the other side. You’re right in the middle of it.
BASIL ZEMPILAS:
Is Ross Lyon your next coach Josh?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I’m sure Ross Lyon, Alistair Clarkson and many others are on the list. Maybe even Nathan Buckley. But I have got to be careful what I say because I’m Carlton’s number one ticket holder.
XAVIER ELLIS:
We know.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
And, you know, I’m conscious that we’ve probably been underperforming for a number of years now, and we’re a club that’s used to success historically and we’ve got some great players I have to say. Look at Patty Cripps for one or –
JENNA CLARKE:
You might be getting Freo’s Cerra. What do you think about that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
If we can strengthen our list, let’s do it.
XAVIER ELLIS:
You need 22 Cerras to get out of your hole.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
But, I mean, if you look at Weitering, if you look at Cripps, if you look at Sam Walsh, we’ve got plenty of good talent but unfortunately finishing sort of middle of the table is not what the Carlton Board, or what the membership expects.
BASIL ZEMPILAS:
Josh, we appreciate your time this morning and education on many, many fronts. Good luck, keep it together. We want everyone to be working together, we want to get through this. We appreciate your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
All the best to you guys.