EDWINA BARTHOLOMEW:
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg joins me now. Morning to you, Treasurer.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning.
EDWINA BARTHOLOMEW:
We’ve been hearing about these ridiculous testing lines. We’re going to take you to a live shot in Bondi right now. A very similar story in your neck of the woods in Melbourne as well. We’re seeing testing times blowout to five, six, seven hours. People are waiting four days to get their results back. And this morning, the NSW Health Minister has accused the Queensland Premier of "perverting the purposes of pathology testing", he’s gone even further to say it’s passive aggressive stupidity to make these PCR tests mandatory. What’s your thought on that? Do you agree with him?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I'm not going to join these border wars. What I will say, though, is that we welcome moves towards using rapid antigen tests as opposed to the PCR tests. It’s quicker, cheaper, and prevents the overload of the system. We need an approach that is common sense and uses compassion and is not based on fear or panic. Common sense and compassion, not fear and panic. That’s got to be the message to state premiers and chief ministers. We need a major change in the mindset of some of the states as we approach living with COVID and every variant is different. In the case of Omicron, it is highly transmissible but early signs are that it is less severe than previous variants, and the focus should not be on case numbers. The focus needs to be on how our hospital system is coping. Right now, we have just over 50 people who are on ventilators and over 130 people in ICU. Tragically, there has been a death from Omicron but we need to keep this in perspective. We are a country of 26 million people and the trajectory and speed of our economic recovery depends on living with the virus and people want their freedoms back, so that is why it is really important that we use common sense and compassion, not fear or panic.
EDWINA BARTHOLOMEW:
I know we have been told to focus on these ICU numbers and you’re right, they are down, but there is a lot of fear in the community. We don’t really have the facilities to do widespread rapid testing. People can't get their hands on any of these test kits. Will the Federal Government make them free to help alleviate the pressure and make them available to all states as well?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The first thing to say is that the Commonwealth has already financially supported more than 53 million tests. We pick up the full bill for those Medicare funded tests and we pick up half the bill with the states through those state systems, so we are already picking up the bulk of the financial tab for testing. Of course, we purchased the vaccines as well. When it comes to rapid antigen tests, I understand, speaking to the Health Minister just yesterday, that the chemist chains are ready to purchase them and we encourage the states to go and order them as well and they will be available – of course there is increased global demand with the Omicron variant - but they can we made available quickly and that is what we obviously encourage states to take action on.
EDWINA BARTHOLOMEW:
NSW have already decided they will make them free in the new year, so hopefully other states do follow. And today, new economic figures are being released, Treasurer. There are some promising signs showing Australia's recovery continues to outperform major economies. That’s fantastic news. Do you feel though, are you a bit nervous that could be at risk now, with this 'let it rip' mentality we have in some parts of the country?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
There is certainly no room for complacency and we can’t give up those hard earned gains that we’ve made when it comes to our economic recovery. We are seeing a very strong economic recovery. The unemployment rate today is at 4.6 per cent. When Labor left office, it was 5.7 per cent. That is even after this COVID induced recession. And we’ve seen a very strong labour market. What the Treasury analysis shows today is that in terms of employment levels and in terms of overall economic activity, our economy here in Australia has outperformed every major advanced economy in the world. It has been better than the United States, better than the United Kingdom, better than Canada, better than Japan, better than Germany, better than France. That is something that belongs to all of Australians. They have produced this result but we can’t take it for granted and we have got to maintain this momentum of the economic recovery going into next year.
EDWINA BARTHOLOMEW:
Let's hope that Omicron doesn't mess with those plans. For the sake of all of us, I hope you have a very prosperous 2022. Thanks for joining us this morning, Josh Frydenberg.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Lovely to be with you.