BEN FORDHAM:
Josh Frydenberg, the Federal Treasurer joins us from Canberra this morning, in isolation day one. Good morning to you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning Ben, nice to be with you from Canberra.
BEN FORDHAM:
How are you possible going to keep yourself company for the next 14 days?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well I’ve actually got a senior staff member from Victoria who has come up here as well and we’re isolating. We donned the masks and the gloves as we got off the plane last night, made our way to isolation where we’ll be for two weeks and you got to follow the rules because obviously people in the ACT, NSW, and states right around the country are concerned about Victorians making their way North.
BEN FORDHAM:
So some MPs have decided to stay away all together, but you can’t exactly do that as Treasurer?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I can’t and obviously it’s difficult being away from family, I’ve got a young family. But there is essential work to be done in the Parliament, we’ve got important legislation to be passed and as you say, being the Treasurer in the midst of the most severe economic crisis in Australia in a century, you’ve got to have all hands on deck.
BEN FORDHAM:
We do have a ‘we’re all in this together’ approach to coronavirus, but we’ve also got to be fair dinkum and the Premier in Victoria, Daniel Andrews, needs to be fair dinkum about the stuff up with hotel quarantine and the impact that’s had on the rest of the country.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well these are very difficult days in Victoria. I’ve been living it with more than six million fellow Victorians in recent days, and it’s very, very difficult emotionally, it’s difficult obviously on the economy as well and it should never have got to that particular point. We know that with respect to quarantine there have been very significant failures with deadly consequences, Victorians deserve answers and I’ll leave that to Daniel Andrews and his Government to provide.
BEN FORDHAM:
The Health Minister, Jenny Mikakos in Victoria, just after midnight over the weekend, went on to Twitter, saying, ‘since that fateful day on January 25 when we had our first ever case I’ve worked every day to keep everyone safe, I’ve put every ounce of energy into that effort, if it wasn’t enough then I’m deeply sorry.’ What did you make of that apology?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well there’s no doubt being a Health Minister at a State or Federal level at these times is a highly pressured job and no doubt she is putting her best efforts in to it. But the reality is there have been mistakes, and she also said in those tweets, and nothing I think good happens on Twitter after midnight, Ben, but what she did say in those tweets is that ‘the truth will set you free.’ And I think it’s only fair that Victorians are provided with the truth about what happened in quarantine, because they know the ‘what’ but they don’t know the ‘how’ and the ‘why.’
BEN FORDHAM:
Are we starting to see an improvement in Victoria or not just yet?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well yesterday was the most deadly day in Victoria with 17 deaths, that’s a terrible toll and no doubt there’ll be more to come. It’s really difficult and one of the biggest concerns I have Ben, is for young people who are in the lockdown subject to the curfew, kids not meeting their friends at school, and then also seniors who may be isolated, grandparents not seeing grandchildren and you layer that up with all those people who have got job insecurity and it’s going to take a huge emotional toll. That’s why the Morrison Government has announced an investment in greater mental health support, working with organisations such as Beyond Blue, Lifeline and Headspace to get support to those who need it.
BEN FORDHAM:
The push for targeted support to help the airline industry seems to be growing, the Australian Airports Association says they need AvKeeper payments to keep the industry afloat. Will you consider giving aviation greater targeted support?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well the aviation sector is one of those sectors that has been directly in the line of fire during the coronavirus pandemic. I mean, we’ve seen the reduction in traffic through our airports, be they the international or domestic terminals. And many of those who are working in that sector are on JobKeeper. We saw Qantas CEO Alan Joyce say without JobKeeper a lot more jobs would’ve been lost. Look, we have already announced, Ben, $1.3 billion in aviation supports basically to maintain operations. It’s everything from waiving fuel excise Government charges and other Government charges, as well as underwriting essential flights into regional communities, enabling Qantas and Virgin to operate their domestic network even at a minimum so that they can keep those critical metropolitan and regional routes going. So we’ve done a lot of things, whether it’s around the freight task or otherwise to ensure that the aviation sector gets through, but I’m sure Michael McCormack will continue his discussions as the responsible Minister with the stakeholders.
BEN FORDHAM:
I’ll tell you what, we desperately need a vaccine, don’t we?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Absolutely. And we’re all hoping that the best and the brightest minds from around the world, who are undertaking this critical research get a breakthrough soon and as the Prime Minister has made clear, if we’re one of the lucky ones to find the vaccine through our medical researchers here in Australia, we’ll make that available to everyone.
BEN FORDHAM:
We’re speaking to Josh Frydenberg, the Federal Treasurer who has just started day one of two weeks in isolation in Canberra before going back into Parliament. I’ve just received a note from a friend of yours in Melbourne, who says ‘ask Josh if he’s cooking for himself while he’s in isolation?’
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The reality is I will be, we’ve actually got a little bit of a barbie here, so I’ll be getting that fired up through the course of the next two weeks and I’ve got the staples. I’ve got the bananas, I’ve got the honey, I’ve got the bread and I’ve got the NutriGrain as well as some coffee. That’s all I’ve got right now, that should be enough to get me through as well as watching Fox Footy.
BEN FORDHAM:
It sounds like Bear Grylls, some kind of survival guide. But anyway, it’s a bit like that at the moment.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Coming from the ninja man himself, that’s high praise.
BEN FORDHAM:
I appreciate you tuning in, we’ll talk to you soon.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
All the very best.