DAVE HUGHES:
Hey, look, politicians have never been busier, obviously, with the pandemic. And a personal friend of ours, I believe, is the Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. We welcome to the show. Hey, Josh, how are you?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Morning, Hughesy. Good morning, Erin. Good morning, Ed.
ERIN MOLAN:
Morning, Treasurer.
ED KAVALEE:
Morning, Treasurer.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
How many times did you have crossed and fingers crossed when you said, friend of yours, mate?
ERIN MOLAN:
Well his issue was, Treasurer, that he was trying, he wanted to claim you for his own, but then he realised that, actually, I also am very close friends with you as is Ed. So he then changed it to ours.
DAVE HUGHES:
It's definitely an ours situation. Josh, you recently had COVID. Have you fully recovered?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Not fully yet. Hughesy, but on the mend, probably about 90 per cent. But like so many of your listeners, I think this has seen a lot of people struck down with it. I had the sort of normal symptoms, you know, the cold sweats and the headaches and the aches and pains, a bit like a very bad flu that lingers on a bit longer than usual. But this is about learning to live with the virus and recognising that even if you try hard not to get it, it's going to be hard to avoid it.
DAVE HUGHES:
Yeah, I'm just on that because we are in here, none of us. Although Nick, who's doing the panel, you have had it. So he's had it. But, Ed, you haven't had it. Erin, you haven't had it.
ED KAVALEE:
Erin's got it today.
DAVE HUGHES:
No, we're sort of joking about that. And she wants me to get a RAT. We can't find a RAT. But did you know initially, straight away, you thought, no, this feels like COVID, or did it sneak up on you?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, you sort of feel all the symptoms. Then I did get a RAT and I tested negative and then the next day I tested positive. So you just got to keep persisting with it.
ERIN MOLAN:
On another RAT Treasurer? Or did you PCR for the second day?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
No, I did another RAT and I was actually at the beach and enjoying a good summer's break with the family. And then we all got struck down with it. And I've got a five year old as well who got it, but with kids, it's a bit different. Like he had a temperature and he was then fine the next day. And you hear that from the medical experts that the impact on kids is much less than on grown adults.
DAVE HUGHES:
So of your ‑ so you and your lovely wife and your two kids, did the four of you get it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Three of us out of the four got it. Which just shows you how random it can be in the same household, doing exactly the same things, hanging out together, even through that isolation period of a week. My young daughter, who's seven, she didn't get it. She had a bit of a temp, but she tested negative. So it is what it is.
ED KAVALEE:
And you're a known anti‑vaxxer Treasurer. So have you changed your mind?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, can I just tell you, for the record, vaccinated, boosted, and I'm really disappointed I didn't get Novak Djokovic's wildcard. Because there was an ulterior motive there, guys, come on.
DAVE HUGHES:
The majority of Australians are glad that Novak left the country. And from my point of view, who's to blame for him turning up? I think it's equal Federal, State ‑ Victorian government, and Tennis Australia. Is that fair to say between the three organisations, they got it wrong?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I wouldn't want to get in the blame game here Hughesy, but what I will say is that you're right. Most Australians, I think, recognise that if you don't play by the rules. And I've said it before, whether you're number one tennis player in the world or you're Betty from Utah, the rules apply. And in this case, even because he was unvaccinated and he didn't do the two weeks quarantine, he lost his appeal against the Minister's decision, and now he's off to the next tournament.
ERIN MOLAN:
Treasurer a lot of coverage regarding how much businesses are struggling. There are no hard lockdowns here, but when you're restricting certain elements and so many staff are off from COVID, particularly hospitality businesses doing it really tough. Would you look at bringing back in some kind of JobKeeper, JobSeeker, some kind of funding to help them out?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
There are already some supports that we have in place. For example, if a business makes a loss now, the business had to close the stores and it couldn't get its staff, then it's able to go and get a cash refund from the tax office by using its loss today against the taxes that it's previously paid. We've also got a small business loan scheme where up to $5 million can be provided for up to ten years in length. And then the States are also taking their own initiatives. For example, for tenants ‑ commercial tenants, they're putting some rental relief in place for those tenants that may have been hit by Omicron. There's a whole lot of things that are happening. The situation is not as bad as it was obviously last year when we had Delta, where you had Sydney in lockdown and Melbourne in lockdown.
ERIN MOLAN:
Well, you wouldn't think so if you listen to the Unions, Jesus.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yeah, well, I think they overstretched yesterday because this talk of strikes would actually hurt families. I mean, what are you going to do, stop builders building people's homes, truckies delivering food to people's homes or supermarkets to fill their shelves, or indeed, teachers in our schools or hospital workers helping to heal the sick? Those workers are absolutely critical in the middle of a pandemic. And no one should be talking about strikes at this time.
DAVE HUGHES:
Well, good luck. At least now all the states and the Federal Government are on the same page aren’t they, except for WA. Are they going to come back?
ED KAVALEE:
Can we get rid of them?
DAVE HUGHES:
Could we or not?
ERIN MOLAN:
Would it be logistically possible?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
They might like that Ed, they might like that.
DAVE HUGHES:
They get to keep all the minerals over there.
ED KAVALEE:
We need them. Thank you, Treasurer, speak to you soon.
DAVE HUGHES:
Thanks, mate.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thanks guys.
ED KAVALEE:
Bye now.