DAVID KOCH:
Joining me now is Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Treasurer you are on the National Security Committee, what's on the agenda? You've had your briefing already, what will you be discussing?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well we’ll be discussing these latest outbreaks as you say Kochie in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, new restrictions in Western Australia, which underline the importance of rolling out the vaccine as fast as possible, particularly to those vulnerable cohorts, and the Prime Minister has also called a meeting of the National Cabinet to bring the state and territory leaders together to align responses, because we’ve seen border closures and we've also seen how dangerous this new Delta strain is, because it's a lot more contagious than the previous strains.
DAVID KOCH:
Are you going to have to get tougher on mandatory vaccinations? Less than 40 per cent of aged care workers are vaccinated at the moment. It is not mandatory for quarantined workers to be vaccinated, like this bus driver who started the outbreak in New South Wales. Are you going to have to get tougher? Are you going to have to force people to be vaccinated in certain jobs?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well we certainly need those workers who were dealing with the more vulnerable cohorts, as you say…
DAVID KOCH:
…Will you make it mandatory?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…for example aged care residents. It's what we'd like to occur, and we are working with the states and territories to get their agreement on that, and that's another topic to be discussed among National Cabinet members. But what we are doing is rolling out the vaccine already to more than 7.3 million doses. Over 28 per cent of eligible recipients across Australia have received a first dose, and in the more vulnerable cohorts, the over 50s, we've seen more than 50 per cent of people receive a first dose. Over 60s, 60 per cent have received a first dose, and for the over 70s, nearly 70 per cent have received a first dose. But what we’ve seen in the United Kingdom for example, Kochie, is the United Kingdom for example, is the even with 80 per cent of their population having received the first dose just yesterday they had 18,000 cases, so it is challenging.
DAVID KOCH:
But their hospitalisation rates are way down. Because people are vaccinated, it's like getting the flu over there, they're not going to into hospital. That's why it's a race to get everyone vaccinated.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well you're absolutely right that the vaccine prevents serious illness, and is been very effective with that, and that's why we do want to roll out the vaccine as quickly as possible. There is only one person in Australia right now in an ICU, as I understand it, having contracted COVID, so we have been successful and we have met these challenges before, and we'll meet them again.
DAVID KOCH:
You're releasing the Intergenerational Report today, a forecast of the future. Some big issues to be discussed there, number one, how important migration is to this country going forward, and we've got to open our borders.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well this report which comes out every five years, the Intergenerational Report, is not a prediction of the future, but it's an insight into what Australia could be, because it's based on existing policy settings, and what it shows to your point about population, is that Australia will be growing more slowly as a result of COVID and the close borders. So we are expected to get over 38 million people and that is lower than what we previously expected. We also seen the pressures from an ageing population on the Budget, particularly increased expenditure on health. And we're also going to see that our debt levels continue to rise, but they remain low by international standards. So this Report provides some important warning signs for government to act.
DAVID KOCH:
Ok I know you’ve got to go. Thanks for joining us.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
My pleasure.