DAVID KOCH:
Treasurer, how important is it for the economy to get kids back at school and stop this home‑schooling balancing act?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It's really important, Kochie. Treasury did some analysis and they said that as Omicron peaked, you could have up to 10 per cent of the Australian workforce, that's more than one million people, who were absent from the workplace. Now, if schools were closed and childcare centres were closed, Treasury thought that number could be more than five per cent higher. That's more than 700,000 additional people who would not be able to attend the workplace. And that would put real pressure, as we know, on the supply chains and other parts of our economy. So, I think it's really important that kids get back in the classroom, not just for their mental health, not just for their educational and personal development, but also, of course, for the broader economic objectives as well.
DAVID KOCH:
Okay, so we're getting kids back to school. How important is it to get workers back on site, particularly in the CBD? CBDs around the country are ghost towns at the moment. There's a lot of offices, a lot of government departments are saying work at home for the foreseeable future.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, it's really important again to get workers back on the shop floor, get them back into the factory floor, get them obviously back to work in a way that is COVID safe. Now, we've got to respect the virus, and we certainly have a number of health restrictions that remain in place, mask wearing, social distancing, encouraging people to get vaccinated and if they're eligible, to get the booster. That's all important as part of our defence against the virus, but we've also got to learn to live with it. And that is something that I think all the States and Territories are starting to recognise, and many Australians are as well. The Omicron variant, Kochie, as we know, is 75 per cent less severe than previous strains, highly transmissible, but we can live safely with the virus.
DAVID KOCH:
New figures show Aussie's, particularly young people, are thousands of dollars better off due to the recent tax cuts. Tell us about the data that's coming through.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Kochie, this is really important Tax Office data, which shows that the Morrison Government has delivered more than $30 billion worth of tax cuts in just the last few years, and that has been delivered to more than 11 million Australians. But if you're 15 to 24, you have been better off by more than $2,000 on average. And as a proportion of tax paid as a proportion of your overall income, it's down by more than 19 per cent. So too for 25 to 34s, and 35s to 44s. That is a broader cohort of people that have seen more jobs being created for them and, of course, lower taxes as we've implemented our plan.
DAVID KOCH:
Yeah. One of the reasons household savings levels are so high.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That’s right.
DAVID KOCH:
Treasurer, thanks for your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Always a pleasure, thanks Kochie.