DAVID KOCH:
Treasurer, how seriously is the Government considering streamlining the dole payments and will all recipients be better off?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Obviously, Kochie, I am not going to speculate on speculation in today's press other than to say that the Government will make an announcement about the future rate of JobSeeker when that elevated rate ends in March. We effectively doubled the safety net during the course of the pandemic. That really helped those on lower incomes. That has been tapering down over the recent months. That ends in March and at that point, we will make a decision and an announcement about that future rate.
DAVID KOCH:
Okay, so is March a definite cut off for JobKeeper? We’ve got a couple of the premiers, Annastacia Palaszczuk in Queensland, saying ‘hey, it should be extended for Queensland businesses.’ We now have Dan Andrews in Victoria saying ‘hey, it should be extended for Victorian businesses.’
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, JobKeeper has always been a temporary program, initially it was for six months. We extended it for another six months at an estimated cost of around $90 billion, Kochie. It is the most expensive single economic support program Australia has ever undertaken. Importantly, it has supported around 3.6 million Australians at its peak, but what we have seen in the latest ATO data today is that more than 2 million Australians, more than 500,000 Australian businesses have graduated on that program. What Treasury have said in their review of JobKeeper is that if you leave it in when the economy strengthens as is occurring right now, it has a number of perverse or adverse incentives. It prevents the allocation of workers to more and better roles across the economy. It is expected to end in March but what we saw in today's numbers are very encouraging signs.
DAVID KOCH:
Do you get annoyed with premiers who expect you to foot the bill and are they doing enough in their own states to help their own businesses recover from the lockdowns they imposed?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Queensland is a perfect example of that. We have delivered more than three times what the Queensland Government has committed in economic support to the people of Queensland. That says it all. We have done the bulk of the heavy lifting and we have done that right across the country, whether it is JobKeeper, whether it is JobSeeker, whether it’s the cash flow boost, whether it’s the $750 payments. Importantly, even when JobKeeper ends, there are other Federal Government supports that are going into the economy. The tax cuts are putting more than $1 billion a month into families’ pockets. The business investment incentives will support new activity across the economy. We are already seeing it. Then obviously we have provided programs like HomeBuilder which have been a spark for the tradies and the housing sector more generally. We are doing the bulk of the heavy lifting. I think it's pretty cheeky for Annastacia Palaszczuk to make those comments about those extension of JobKeeper. I would always welcome more support from them. But what we know is that for the Queensland tourism businesses, the best thing that can happen is those borders remain open because as Alan Joyce said to me, Kochie, he cancelled 1,500 flights and 200,000 passenger bookings into Queensland alone in the month of January when those borders were closed at the end of December.
DAVID KOCH:
Including my holiday, too. Lots of other Australians. It's a good point. Treasurer, appreciate your time, thank you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good to be with you.