ALLISON LANGDON:
Let's bring in Treasurer Josh Frydenberg who joins us now from Melbourne. Treasurer, thanks for your time this morning. I tell you what, it's chaos out there…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning Ally.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Do you still believe in this October target?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the Chief Medical Officer, the Prime Minister have reaffirmed that the goal is to get those vaccines out to all Australians by October. That's our goal and that's what we are working towards and what we have already seen is more than 200,000 Australians being vaccinated and of course we're going to be producing one million vaccines every week through CSL. That's going to provide a great basis for us to roll out the AstraZeneca vaccine across the country.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
GPs are universally bagging you out, they have been all week. I can't quite work out why you've been so slow.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, this is a massive logistical exercise. I don't think you can ever underestimate the task that is ahead of us. But at the same time, across other countries, they've also had logistical challenges and hiccups along the way. But from Australia's perspective, we've obviously suppressed the virus very successfully, we want to roll out the vaccine as quickly as possible but also to do so in a safe way. We know that when the vaccine comes in, it will significantly reduce the spread of the virus, but it will also boost confidence and confidence is good news for the economy and yesterday the economy got its own shot in the arm with really, really good job numbers.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Did those numbers surprise you yesterday? A lot of economists weren't expecting numbers that good.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
They did. The 88,700 new jobs that were created Ally were actually around three times what the market was expecting. It saw the unemployment rate fall to 5.8 per cent. The market was expecting it to still hover around 6.2, 6.3 per cent. What's really good news is more than 80 per cent of those jobs went to women, more than 40 per cent of those jobs went to young people, and all of those 88,700 new jobs were full- time jobs. So the Australian economy has remained remarkably resilient in the face of this biggest economic shock since the Great Depression.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
There is a push this morning for foreign workers to take up places in hotel quarantine, foreign-skilled workers. Should we not be prioritising Aussies who are maybe unemployed or about to be unemployed with JobKeeper?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We're absolutely ensuring everything possible to get Aussies into jobs. We do know that there are still around 56,000 jobs in the regions that are going begging. Those jobs are available. People are not necessarily taking them and the hope is that with mutual obligation being accelerated, the JobSeeker payment coming down from its elevated level, and obviously JobKeeper ending in March, that we will see more movement across the employment and labour market. But the good news is that the jobs are coming back, the job is not done, but the jobs are coming back. Skilled migrants always have an important role to play in our economy and at the first available opportunity, we will that ensure we get them into jobs so we can boost the overall economy.
ALLISON LANGDON:
More than skilled migrants though, don't we need people like fruit pickers?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We do. We've had programs about to bring in some Pacific workers to fill some of those roles. We have also put in thousands of dollars of incentives for people to move to those areas to take up those jobs. Clearly we want and need more people to take up those jobs because it is heartbreaking to see the fruit rot on the ground because you can't get the workers. That's a real issue as well.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
JobKeeper ends in just over a week. There's a lot of nervousness around this, as you know. We learnt this morning airline staff will continue to get $500 a week as part of that $1.2 billion support package announced last week. Is that fair?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, that is a different program. That's all about protecting Australia's sovereign international aviation capability. That program, which we announced, Karl, involves ensuring that those workers remain skilled, trained, that the planes are kept in proper maintenance, that they can be brought out of storage where a lot of them have been over recent months. It's an international aviation support package. Qantas and Virgin have taken the decision to pay these workers on a regular basis and we want to keep that sovereign capability in Australia because as soon as our international borders open, we need that capacity. We can't afford to lose it.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Are you leaving the door open to other industries for targeted income support because you do have hospitality saying, ‘what about us?’
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we're not putting in place economy-wide wage subsidies. We did that with JobKeeper. It was a remarkable success. 3.6 million Australians relied on that program. It helped save more than 700,000 jobs according to Treasury and the Reserve Bank of Australia. Our goal now is to ensure that the economy moves to the next stage of its transition and the recovery is underway as we saw with yesterday's numbers. But there's still a long way to go. We will look for targeted support packages to those areas that are in need, but at least if we can keep those borders open, those domestic borders open, that will give a lot more confidence to the economy as well.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Are you not at all worried about JobKeeper ending?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
JobKeeper has to end. It was always a temporary program. It was always an emergency support measure. Initially it was for six months. We extended it for another six months and at $90 billion, it's the most expensive and largest single economic support program that any Australian government has ever undertaken. So we've got to move to the next stage. We recognise that there are regions and sectors that are doing it tough. That's why our support continues. So even though JobKeeper ends, our support doesn't. We've got the JobMaker hiring credit, we have skills packages, we have infrastructure spending, we have tax cuts which you and I have talked about on your program, rolling out, putting billions of dollars into the economy. So Australia is better placed than any other economy around the world for the start of this year. Let's keep that momentum going.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
AFL boss Gil McLachlan is doing his bit for the country, reducing the cost of a pie at the footy. I noticed last night you were at the footy with the PM. Looked like you had very nice seats.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well you know, Carlton lost, Karl, but footy was the winner. It was great to see 50,000 Victorians out there with one New South Welshman in Scott Morrison being there to support the game. It was terrific. It was just absolutely terrific that the Prime Minister was able to come to the footy. He got a lot of high-fives from the Richmond and Carlton supporters as he walked around the ground, and there was a real sense that footy is back and that's good for the community and and that's good for everyone's confidence over the course of this year.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Did you have to explain the rules to him?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I told him you couldn't run more than 15 metres with the ball, that's right, without a bounce.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
I thought you were a Collingwood supporter.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Hey, listen, stop that. Stop that sledging. Come on. It's too early in the morning.
ALLISON LANGDON:
You walked straight into his trap Josh, straight in! Good to talk to you this morning.