JIM WILSON:
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is on the line this afternoon. Treasurer, welcome back to Drive.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to be with you and your listeners Jim.
JIM WILSON:
Okay, Treasurer, Premier Andrews said earlier today ‘you’re just a Liberal who plays politics every day.’ What do you say to that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, it’s not about Daniel Andrews, it’s not about me, it’s about the Victorian people and I’m for Victoria, I’m for Victorian jobs, I’m for Victorian small businesses. And what is absolutely clear from the statements yesterday from the Council of Small Business, the Australian Hotels Association, the Australian Industry Group and the Business Council of Australia, is that they were deeply disappointed in the announcement from the Andrews’ Government. Indeed, they said it was unacceptable and inexplicable. They talked about a lack of consultation and that businesses have been losing hope. And in Victoria, as a result of the lockdown, we’ve seen more than 1,000 jobs being lost each and every day on average and now Victoria with 26 per cent of the national population has 40 per cent of the nation’s effective unemployed people, at over 500,000. So the tragedy that started with the second wave and the hotel quarantine failures, has taken a huge toll Jim, on the mental health and the wellbeing of Victorians and has taken a huge toll on the economic prospects of the state, as well as, of course, costing lives.
JIM WILSON:
Okay. Well this isn’t the first time that Mr Andrews has had a crack at you, this is from the other day.
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JIM WILSON:
What do you make of that? It’s like Voldemort and Harry Potter, you can’t mention his name.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, clearly he’s feeling the pressure at the moment and the situation in Victoria has become very dire. I mean, the statistics bare this out Jim. Beyond Blue, which provides mental health support to people in need has seen in Victoria a 77 per cent increase in the call on it’s services compared to what has occurred in other states. And as I said before, the loss of jobs has been very, very profound. So it’s a very difficult situation, no one has taken responsibility for those hotel quarantine failures from where the second wave started. And clearly, as the Federal Treasurer, I’m seeing the numbers, I’m seeing the impact on the Budget, I’m seeing the impact on the labour market and as a result, the Morrison Government has already provided $31 billion to Victorian families and businesses since March this year and we’ll continue to provide billions more in order to help Victorians get to the other side.
JIM WILSON:
You’ve mentioned retail, hospitality businesses are closed until at least November 2. The Premier has also warned people you cannot have friends over into your home for the AFL Grand Final on Saturday evening and that police will be out in force. I’ve said plenty of times on this program, Treasurer, that the New South Wales model has shown the way about living with the virus and reopening business. Surely, surely, when you look at the livelihoods that have been impacted south of the border, in your home city, time has come to ease the restrictions.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Absolutely, and to do so in a COVID-safe way, to allow these businesses to open. As you know, we’re nine weeks out from Christmas. And businesses in the last eight weeks leading up to Christmas tend to make about 60 per cent of their turnover, revenues and profits, particularly in the hospitality sector and retail sector. And they’re the ones who are pleading for help. They’re the ones who want to reopen now in a COVID-safe way. And there was a very interesting graph in the local paper, the Herald Sun today, where it contrasted the New South Wales experience with the Victorian experience. And when New South Wales had double the number of active cases that Victoria has today, the pubs, the clubs, the restaurants, the cafes in New South Wales were open, yet in Victoria they are closed. And that is what Victorians can’t understand. The roadmap keeps changing, things get made up on the run, and as a result, the price is very, very high for Victorians and I think Gladys Berejiklian deserves a real shout out for the gold standard way in which she has approached the contact testing and tracing and managed the outbreaks that have occurred. Because, Daniel Andrews says he doesn’t want an elimination strategy, he says he’s not pursing an elimination strategy, yet the numbers are so low in Victoria and things are not open. So people are just drawing the conclusion that despite saying he’s pursing a suppression strategy, in reality, it looks like an elimination strategy.
JIM WILSON:
Does it seem to you, that the more pressure you put on the Premier, and this goes with Greg Hunt as well who also calls Melbourne and Victoria home, and then the Prime Minister, it seems as though the more pressure you put on from a federal level, the more he digs his heels in?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, you have to look at the comments from people who are not in politics who have been deeply critical of the approach. I’m talking about the Victorian President of the Australian Medical Association, who labelled the Victorian Government’s handling of this as like watching a slow motion car crash. I’m talking about the Chair of one of Australia’s arguably, most successful companies, CSL, Brian McNamee, a doctor himself, who said it was a roadmap to misery released by the Premier. I’m talking about Jim’s Mowing’s founder, Jim Penman, who said that they were trashing the economy, the State Government’s trashing the economy in Victoria. I’m talking about the former High Court and Federal Court judges who said on record, they were deeply concerned by the legislation the Victorian Government was putting up. I’m talking about the former Police Chief Commissioner in Victoria, who, and I quote this, said about the legislation that it was a “dangerous grab for unfettered power without just cause.” I mean, the list goes on. Victorians are so despondent about what they have seen and that’s why I said today, Jim, that from the Victorian Government we’ve seen a callous indifference to the loss of jobs and the plight of small business. And I’m speaking out on their behalf, on Victorians’ behalf, who do need to get back to work and they do need their jobs.
JIM WILSON:
Okay, well politics aside, you make a very good point because there have been a number of senior business leaders from Melbourne, Victoria, sign a joint petition calling for the relaxing of restrictions. That the state is going under on an economic front, it’s time to reopen, and the fact that, you know, you have to live with the virus, we need to get people back in jobs. Senior business leaders have said that.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Absolutely. And Jim, neither you nor I know if and when a vaccine will be developed. I’ve got in the Budget an assumption that there will be a vaccine distributed around the country by the end of next year. But it’s an assumption based on the best medical advice to us at the present time. But at the same time, we have to learn to live with the virus because we don’t know whether that will come to a reality or not. And therefore delaying the opening of these businesses in a COVID-safe way is really hurting the Victorian economy and Victorian jobs.
JIM WILSON:
Just before I let you go, there’s been a report circulating this afternoon that it’s feared people in hotel quarantine in Victoria may have been exposed to infection. Health authorities are contacting more than 200 people who had their blood glucose level tested between late-March and mid-August. A blood testing device that was only meant to be used on a single person was used multiple times. Your reaction to that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well Jim, I haven’t seen the reports or been briefed on them so I won’t add to the commentary about that, but my primary focus has absolutely been on enabling Victorians to get back into work and to save jobs in Victoria and save small businesses. Yesterday the Premier announced that people could go and play golf, go and play cricket, sorry, go and play tennis and go down to the skate park. Now, that’s all well and good, I’m all for those activities, you know I love a hit of tennis, but Victorians also need their jobs. And that’s why every day that those businesses remain closed is a day lost, and every day that the lockdown has continued we see more than 1,000 jobs lost in my home state.
JIM WILSON:
Treasurer, as always, we appreciate your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
My pleasure, thanks Jim.