BRIAN CARLTON:
Treasurer, good morning, how are you?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to be with you.
BRIAN CARLTON:
It’s good to take - in other words, I appreciate your time this morning. What triggered the extra funding for Tasmania? Is there any specific thing?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It’s certainly the extended lockdowns in New South Wales and in Victoria which are impacting on businesses in Tasmania. The reports are there are a number particularly in the tourism sector, as you would know, who would otherwise rely on customers coming from the mainland down to Tasmania, and they are no longer coming in the same numbers as a result of the lockdowns. The idea is to help these businesses get to the point where the borders are able to reopen and customers are able to come back.
BRIAN CARLTON:
Do you have an end date? We’ll discuss the quantum of this in a minute, but do you have an end date for how long this funding is meant to last? Just even if it’s just a fuzzy number in mind. Does it take us up to the proposed October 18 date that New South Wales has set to come out of lockdown?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yes, it does. There’s an original package which we announced with the Gutwein government, which was $20 million. And then we have extended it now to $50 million. And in that program there are three separate grants and the last grant will open in the first week of November, so that hopefully will take businesses to the point where they’ll be able to start to see their customers come back.
BRIAN CARLTON:
Okay. The state government has thrown in - what - some actual cash or just in kind? So there’ll be some relief for eligible business - just off the release here - waiving fees and charges such as payroll tax, vehicle registration, passenger transport accreditation fees, licence fees payable to Parks and Wildlife et cetera. So is the government actually popping in money or are they just offering in-kind support?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
No, they’re actually providing a fifty-fifty funding split with the Commonwealth, and that means that businesses will receive grants of up to $50,000 depending on their annual turnover. And that will be partly funded by the State Government and partly funded by us. On top of that direct grant relief they’re also providing some relief on payroll tax, and as you say, waiving vehicle registration, passenger transport accreditation fees as well as licence fees payable to Parks and Wildlife.
BRIAN CARLTON:
I’d imagine there’s a few hoops to jump through. What industry sectors are you targeting? Obviously tourism and hospitality would be at the front of the list. What sort of criteria would a business need to display in order to qualify for the grant?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, it’s not just tourism and hospitality - it’s arts and events, it’s transport, it’s the seafood sectors. So it’s a broad range of sectors that will be able to benefit from these particular grants that we’ve outlined. And they’ve got to show that they’ve had a turnover decline of 30 per cent or more. And that is a way of being able to see what the real impact of the lockdowns and restrictions are having on them.
BRIAN CARLTON:
It is a recognition clearly by the Federal Government that the decisions of both the New South Wales and the Victorian governments are having quite significant knock-on effects into other states like Tasmania. How long can we keep them going? I mean, there’s no suggestion that they might stick to these dates, especially that October 18 date that New South Wales has popped up. They’re pretty rubbery, I would imagine. It’s a big impost on the federal government, isn’t it, when the states keep kind of coming cap in hand for funding to offset decisions they’re making themselves?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Brian, you’re certainly right about the extent of the call on the federal government’s coffers throughout this crisis. We’ve committed more than $300 billion in direct economic and health support through a variety of measures. Obviously the first phase of the crisis last year saw programs like JobKeeper and the cash flow boost -
BRIAN CARLTON:
Absolutely, let’s talk about that. Treasurer, do you mind if I interrupt you there just for a second. There’s been some noises from Labor over the past few days - in fact, longer than the past few days - to reinstate JobKeeper and JobSeeker the way they were constructed last year. What’s the official response to those calls from the Labor opposition?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, hypocrisy, thy name is Labor. Because at the time last year they supported JobKeeper. They voted for it. They actually asked us to extend it, and because it’s been such a successful program they’re now seeking to diminish it. And if you look at one of their chief spear carriers, Andrew Leigh, he’s on the record of saying last year that it was an important program and that without it we’d be looking at unemployment not like 10 per cent but 20 per cent. And he went on to say that, you know, it prevented unemployment receiving - going to Great Depression levels. So there is somebody who was actually praising the program, voted for it and is now seeking to criticise it. So I think no-one can really take them that seriously, particularly given that the overwhelming beneficiaries of JobKeeper were small businesses, many across Tasmania. In fact, there were more than 16,000 businesses in Tasmania, around 69,000 people, who benefited from the $1.4 billion that we provided to Tasmania through JobKeeper.
BRIAN CARLTON:
Yeah. It’s interesting, isn’t it, that there’s no calls from Labor to claw back some of the GST windfall that the Western Australian government is currently, but we’ll leave that one go right through to the keeper, Treasurer, if you don’t mind. Okay, just one quick one if I may - we’re about to have a record harvest here in Australia. Problem is - and obviously Tassie being a fairly significant contributor to that in terms of agriculture - we’re missing 30,000 overseas workers to do the harvest picking and all the associated jobs that go with that. How are we going to manage that, Treasurer?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as you know, Tasmania and Victoria have a quarantine arrangement where Tasmania takes in some of these Pacific workers and [inaudible]…
BRIAN CARLTON:
Treasurer, we’ve just got a bit of a phone break-up. Sorry, Treasurer…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
But we’ve got a Pacific Labour Scheme and a Seasonal Worker Scheme and we’re making some changes there to enable more people to come here and help on the farms and help in that important area of the economy.
BRIAN CARLTON:
Should we have organised some kind of quarantine at a federal level for these people?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we have got arrangements for them to be able to come in, and that has already seen more than 10,000 workers who have come since September of last year.
BRIAN CARLTON:
Treasurer, we’ve got some phone issues. I appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for being upfront and having a chat to Tassie. Thank you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
All the best.
BRIAN CARLTON:
Josh Frydenberg, the Federal Treasurer. My apologies for the phone behaviour there. It was just doing its little digital dropout.