BEN FORDHAM:
The Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg joins us live from Parliament House, Canberra. Treasurer, good morning to you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to be with you Ben.
BEN FORDHAM:
You would echo those sentiments, open the borders?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well certainly we need a more flexible approach to the borders, not just because it’s impeding our economic recovery Ben, but also because it’s leading to cruel health outcomes. I mean, how is it fair that a grandmother of seven, who is recovering from brain surgery, has been forced to quarantine in a hotel room in Queensland as opposed to being able to isolate at home as part of the recovery. At the same time you’ve got footy officials sitting by the pool bar, it does look like double standards.
BEN FORDHAM:
Yeah Jamie Warden, the farmer from Walgett who’s a mate of this program, he’s just survived the drought and then he said ‘If I can get through this harvest without heavy frost, then we’re going to be back on our feet’, and now he needs specific machinery run by specific workers from Queensland to come in. The workers are saying, look mate we’re not going to do it because we’ll have to go into hotel quarantine when we return.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well it’s a good practical example where common sense is not being applied when it comes to the borders. Because you’ve got supply chains that reach across to geographical areas, that’s just a fact of life. And we’ve seen for example, a schoolteacher from Victoria, who is two kilometres from the South Australian border deemed not to be an essential worker so is unable to go and teach her class. I mean, you’ve got a four year old boy who is being treated for cancer, who has been separated from his mother, because of these confused border approaches. So I think the strict border positions that we’ve seen from some states needs to be relaxed, it needs to be more flexible, it needs to better reflect medical metrics, and be more transparent and lead to a more targeted approach. That’s why the Prime Minister is pursuing a common definition of a so-called hot spot.
BEN FORDHAM:
I know most people prefer bad news before the good news. The bad news yesterday, the economy has shrunk by 7 per cent in the second quarter, the biggest quarterly drop in recorded history. And that doesn’t take into account Victoria's second lockdown. But then you’ve got the good news, while we’re down 7 per cent, the US is 9 per cent, the UK is 20 per cent. So we need to keep this in context don’t we?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We certainly do. And we’ve heard from Treasury that the various economic support programs that the Government has implemented, like JobKeeper, have actually helped save 700,000 jobs. And without those economic supports from the Government, the official unemployment rate would be five percentage points higher than it is today. And as you said in the UK, more than 20 per cent down in the June quarter, in France down about 14 per cent, in Canada 11.5 per cent. They’re expecting a huge drop as well in New Zealand. So we’ve been performing relatively well, very strongly, compared to other countries on both the health and the economic front. But that is cold comfort for many Australians who have either lost their job or seen their hours substantially reduced.
BEN FORDHAM:
And you’re going to bring forward those tax cuts which is great news.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well I know you’d like to pre-empt the Budget on October 6, but I look forward to that conversation after the Budget because that is one of the issues we’re considering in the context of the Budget, recognising that tax cuts put more money in people’s pockets. More money in people’s pockets leads to more spending, and more spending leads to more jobs.
BEN FORDHAM:
The relationship with China, how worried are you about that when you consider the importance of this economic recovery? China’s Foreign Ministry says Australia is paranoid about China’s activity, but when you think about all the punishments that have been dealt out to Australian industries, have we got a right to be paranoid? And how important is it that we get that relationship back on track?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well you and your listeners would always expect the Australian Government to advance the national interest. To do so we need to set clear and consistent lines when it comes to issues of international concern. For example, looking into an international inquiry into the origin of the Coronavirus. And we were very clear about the need for such an inquiry and that was one that was echoed by many other countries. Now obviously that upset China and created some tensions, but the reality is the Chinese-Australian economic partnership is a very strong one, it is mutually beneficial. There’s more than $200 billion a year in two-way trade. We supply more than 60 per cent of China’s iron ore, around 45 per cent of their LNG gas, that’s critical to their economic recovery. As you know, we buy lots of Chinese goods as well. So it’s a two-way street. It’s helping to create jobs here and there, and long may that economic partnership continue.
BEN FORDHAM:
I know you’ve been in Canberra for a while now and away from the family, does that mean you’re away from the kids for Father’s Day?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That’s an issue that we’re working through because…
BEN FORDHAM:
Listen to you, you sound like the Treasurer dealing with a Budget, you don’t work through the issue when it comes to kids and Father’s Day.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well I don’t want to… hey Ben you know where my heart is…
BEN FORDHAM:
I know…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
This has been really tough to be away from the family. Thank goodness for FaceTime. I’ve also got a couple of birthdays in my family in the month of September which I’d like to share. But my wife has been a rock of Gibraltar, a rock of support for me. And the kids have been, as best as they can, dealing with the stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne. I’d love to spend some time with them, obviously in the lead up to the Budget because that’s what my real focus over the coming weeks because so much is at stake for Australians right around the country.
BEN FORDHAM:
Well you’re taking a hit on behalf of the nation, and we thank you for it and I hope you get to see the family soon. Thank you so much.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thanks Ben.