DAVID KOCH:
We're joined by the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. Treasurer, good morning to you. Even with this case closed by police, and Christian Porter's strong denials, a lot of people won't be able to move on. Should he step aside?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
No, he shouldn't. These have been distressing days in the Parliament. Yesterday, Christian Porter gave an emphatic denial of those allegations, and the only authorised body, Kochie, to actually determine those serious criminal matters are the police; and the police have spoken, they have said that the case is closed. And Christian Porter is entitled to the presumption of innocence, as any of our fellow Australians would be. So, our view is that, following his statement yesterday, and his press conference, and of course the words from the New South Wales Police, we now have seen that the case is closed.
DAVID KOCH:
Labor leader Anthony Albanese wants an independent inquiry. Should that happen?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
No, it shouldn't. Again, the only authorised body that is entitled and authorised to deal with these matters is the police. And, I point out to Anthony Albanese, and to others, that when there have been allegations of this type against other members of the Parliament, different standards were applied. There was no call for that person to stand down, there was no call for an independent investigation, no one was putting the facts of the case out there extensively in the media and portraying them as the facts of the case; it was very different.
DAVID KOCH:
So, you’re pointing, in a subtle way, to the Bill Shorten incident?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I don't want to name particular people, other than to say, Anthony Albanese well knows, as well as other members of the Labor Party, that serious allegations have been put about other members in the Parliament and they adopted a different approach. Indeed, back then there was a bipartisan view that the police were the authorised body to deal with it; the police then spoke, and then people moved on. We have not seen that approach in this case since the New South Wales Police have said that the Porter matter was closed.
DAVID KOCH:
Has anyone in the Government reached out to the alleged victim's family?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I haven’t, because I haven’t been intimately involved in this particular matter, but I can't speak for every member of the Government.
DAVID KOCH:
It has been a terrible week for Parliament as a whole. Also under pressure, this morning, Defence Minister, Linda Reynolds; she has not denied reports in The Australian that she suggested and referred to Brittany Higgins as a “lying cow”. Does she have more questions to answer about this?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Linda Reynolds has put out a statement saying that she has never challenged Brittany Higgins’ version of events –
DAVID KOCH:
But she didn’t deny those words in front of a whole bunch of staff.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
But she hasn’t said that she said them either. What she has said is that she has never challenged Brittany Higgins’ version of events. Again –
DAVID KOCH:
Should she come out and say, “I did not use those words”?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, I am sure the media will put those questions to her. But, like Christian Porter, Linda Reynolds is taking some time off duty to gather back their health, which, you know, people should give them their privacy. I’ll tell you what my focus though is on, Kochie, and that’s the economic recovery. And yesterday we saw –
DAVID KOCH:
Let’s get onto that because I was going to say that all of this has overshadowed good news for you with these latest economic figures –
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good news for you too.
DAVID KOCH:
– a stronger, faster recovery than expected, all driven by us consumers. We’ve come out and spent. You went hard and went early, putting money in our pockets. We’ve gone out and spent it, and saved it as well, and that is the result of this economic growth figure.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
What was very pleasing in yesterday’s numbers was that the private sector is helping to lead that recovery; dwelling investment was up, business investment was up, and, as you say, household consumption was up. And the savings ratio came down quite significantly. So, that means that people are gathering confidence. People have got more confidence to go out and spend, and of course as the health restrictions have been eased, people have been able to go and do that. We saw yesterday, the Australian economy grow by 3.1 per cent. This is the first time, since records began back in 1959, that the Australian economy has had two consecutive quarters of economic growth above 3 per cent, and we have outperformed all other advanced economies across the world. So, both on the health front and on the economic front, you wouldn’t want to be in any other country but Australia right now.
DAVID KOCH:
Is this sustainable and enough to cover for the cutoff in JobKeeper at the end of the month? The economy is so strong that it will get through the JobKeeper cut?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, just because JobKeeper comes to an end doesn’t mean that the economic support from the Morrison Government comes to an end. Indeed, we have the JobMaker Hiring Credit, we’ve brought forward infrastructure spending, we’ve put in place 340,000 new training places, we’ve provided investment incentives, and of course the tax cuts are putting more than $1 billion a month into the pockets of Australian families. But what was interesting in yesterday's numbers, Kochie, was that in the December quarter, Federal Government direct economic support actually halved, yet the economic growth increased by 3.1 per cent, 320,000 jobs were created, and 2.1 million Australians came off JobKeeper. So, even though we were tapering down the economic support, the economy continued to grow and jobs were created.
DAVID KOCH:
Yep, it’s a V-shaped recovery with a capital V, which is great news. Treasurer, thanks for joining us.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
My pleasure.