GRAEME GOODINGS:
According to Tax Office and Treasury data, young women are the biggest beneficiaries from the Coalition’s income tax cuts. Joining me now, Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
Minister, what does the report show?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We’ve got some new data from the Tax Office that shows the biggest beneficiary of our tax cuts have actually been younger people and particularly younger women. We’re seeing women under the age of 25 paying on average 20 per cent less tax compared to what they would have paid under the Labor Party. That means a saving of more than $2,300 in lower taxes for them, and that’s an encouraging effort, it’s rewarding aspiration and it’s very consistent with the Coalition’s philosophical approach.
GRAEME GOODINGS:
The tax cuts were across the board. Why have young women benefited most?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
They have benefited from the various initiatives that we’ve had in place like the lower and middle‑income tax offset, which is focused on lower and middle‑income earners, younger women have obviously lower incomes than people who have been in the workforce for longer periods of time. But we’ve seen a very strong rise in female workforce participation under the Coalition so much so there are one million more women who are in work today compared to when the Labor Party was last in office. Our focus has been on narrowing the gender pay gap, has been on creating more jobs for women and has been encouraging their effort by putting more money in their pocket with tax cuts.
GRAEME GOODINGS:
Has COVID had an impact on the overall unemployment rate?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
As you may know, Graeme, the unemployment rate today is at a 13‑year low of 4.2 per cent. When Labor was in office, it was 5.7 per cent and Jim Chalmers, the Shadow Treasurer, actually said the single biggest test of the Morrison Government’s management of the pandemic would be what happens to the unemployment rate, and it’s significantly lower today than it was under the Labor Party. Youth unemployment rate is at a more than 10‑year low, and that is good news as well. So, our focus has been on creating more jobs. JobKeeper helped save the economy. We saw programs like our infrastructure rollout continue. We’ve seen the JobTrainer program. We’ve put in place subsidies for trade apprentices, so now we have 220,000 trade apprentices in a role. That’s the highest number since those statistics were first kept back in 1963. It’s been a very positive story about the resilience across the economy but particularly with respect to the labour market.
GRAEME GOODINGS:
Have we seen any change in the gender pay gap?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yes, so, it has come down. It’s still obviously too large and that’s something we continue to focus on. But the best way to close that gap is to get more people into work. We saw an important piece of legislation, Graeme, also go through the Parliament just last week with respect to superannuation with the removal of the so‑called $450 rule, which will see some 200,000 women actually now get paid superannuation at work. And that’s something that they previously didn’t, and that obviously will help them in their retirement. We’ve got a number of initiatives that are helping to support women’s economic security. Jane Hume is doing an excellent job in that regard, and it continues to be a focus of Coalition budgets.
GRAEME GOODINGS:
Just last week, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia called for a return of the baby bonus to boost women’s upper levels. Is there any consideration of that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look, I’m not going to go into particular requests or particular measures that people have been pushing, other than to say we have got an issue with Australia’s fertility rate. It has been declining, and I pointed that out in the Intergenerational Report that comes out every five years. But our focus has been on creating more jobs, and our focus has been ensuring that there is more money for people in superannuation. And we’ve made a number of changes around the low‑income super tax offset. We’ve legislated for catch‑up contributions. As I said, we’ve abolished the $450 rule – all of which are going to be particularly helpful to women and their superannuation. Let’s not forget at the last election the Labor Party took to the Australian people $27 billion in higher tax on super, including removing the flexibility that we’ve introduced on catch‑up contributions.
GRAEME GOODINGS:
There’s no doubt the tax cuts that you have introduced have been welcomed, but cost‑of‑living pressure continues to mount.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yes, it does.
GRAEME GOODINGS:
Has the Government got a plan to ease that ever‑increasing cost of living?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
As you know, cost‑of‑living pressures are real and inflation has actually been higher than what had been previously forecast either by the RBA or by Treasury. It’s still around half of what the information levels in the United States have been, and that’s because they’ve seen higher electricity prices in the United States or higher electricity prices in the UK compared to what was seen in Australia. Fuel prices are really set internationally, and there’s been upward pressure there. We’ve cut costs for childcare quite significantly. We introduced in the last budget a nearly $2 billion measure which removed the cap and increased the rebate for families that had two or more children in childcare. That was to benefit some 250,000 families. It was going to lead to more than 300,000 hours of additional work. And families with two kids in childcare were on average going to be better $2,200 a year better off. We’ve been trying to tackle issues like electricity prices with investments in renewables and investments in our grid. We’ve been trying to tackle childcare costs by changes that we’ve made there. And obviously tax cuts have been the best way we can put money into people’s pockets to meet those cost‑of‑living expenses, and that’s what we’ve been doing.
GRAEME GOODINGS:
Minister, good to talk to you today.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Always a pleasure. Thanks, Graeme.
GRAEME GOODINGS:
Josh Frydenberg, Federal Treasurer.