ALLISON LANGDON:
How do we survive and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic? Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is with us now. Treasurer, thanks for your time. As we just saw there seniors are leaving their supermarket once again, empty handed right now. People, they’re afraid aren’t they?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well people are understandably anxious because we’re living in unprecedented times. I spoke to the heads of Woolworths and Coles last night and talked to them about the need to get more security into their stores but also we need to assure the Australian public that there is no need for panic buying. That’s what medical experts have said, people get food for a few days, not for a few weeks. Australia is a country that produces enough food for seventy-five million people yet we are a population of twenty five million people. We make our own toilet paper. People will not run out of these products and the supermarkets need to ensure that’s the case…
ALLISON LANGDON:
Yeah but whatever we’re doing Treasurer, it’s not working. Whatever we’re doing and whatever that message we keep pushing every day, it’s not working because people aren’t listening.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, everyone has a responsibility here from the media to the politicians, to industry, and to the public themselves. This is a team Australia moment, we need to get together. We don’t know how long the coronavirus will continue to spread. The Prime Minister’s prepared the nation by saying at least six months, but not even the medical experts can put a definitive date on it and you know to paraphrase Winston Churchill “this very much feels not like the beginning of the end but merely the end of the beginning.”
KARL STEFANOVIC:
There’s a disconnect here though Josh. I know you’re all working so incredibly hard at the moment but it’s just everyday people who are going to their shops and they’re hearing all the messages, there’s no one who’s not hearing that message. But they’re going to their shops and they’re not seeing the everyday supplies and they’re going well hang on a second, maybe there’s something here I should be prepared for and maybe there isn’t enough and everyone else is doing it so I’ve got to do it, like a group mentality and so you can have a go at them but it’s just us, it’s everyday people, we’re all doing it.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well I’m not having a go at anyone, what I’m saying is that everybody has to respect each other, and we need to listen to the experts, that’s the key point here Karl and the medical experts are saying that people should not engage in panic buying. From the Prime Minister down and including the State Premiers who are coordinated through this unprecedented National Cabinet, the message is very, very clear, there’s no need for panic buying.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Well Treasurer, I mean people are desperate right now. People are already losing their jobs. What does this second stimulus package look like? How big is it going to be and when will it kick in?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It’s going to be very substantial, it will complement the first stimulus package, and it will also complement the measures yesterday from the Reserve Bank and the Australian Government that saw more than $100 billion injected into our financial system. It will be focused on cushioning the blow for those Australians who may have lost their job but also supporting small businesses because we want them to be able to meet the fix costs whether that’s their rent, that’s their energy bills, their water bills, their wages bills, which will continue to need to be paid even though customers are not coming through the door. They’re will be the other side to this and we are building that bridge to recovery.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
There are some of the elements of the Australian economy that will be impacted on as you know only too well. What do you say to the self-employed small business owner who just has no customers, or customers who have very little to spend, the casual worker who’s just lost shifts because the shifts have dried up. How are they going to pay their rent? How are they going to pay their mortgages? How are they going to get through this next period?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We’re working on measures to support them and other members of the twenty-five million strong Australian community. But we will get to the other side and the Government will do what it takes, together with the other key stakeholders across business and at the state level, to ensure that we support Aussie jobs and Aussie businesses. I’d say to those casual workers and I’d say to those sole traders, they are not alone, the Government stands with them, just as other governments are standing with their publics because this is a global pandemic, this is something we’ve never seen before on this scale and of course we are putting the safety and the interests of Australians first.
ALLISON LANGDON:
So we’ve seen over the last couple of days, the banks they are sending the right messages but how do you make sure that they don’t foreclose on people who can’t afford their repayments? Because we know that is going to happen.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well today the banks will be making an announcement about a series of measures to provide relief to their customers because there’s actually an alignment of interest here, between the banks and the small businesses and their other customers, they want them to get to the other side. Healthy banks have healthy customers and so everyone is in this together and I think the banks will be making a very important announcement just like the energy retailers need to do, just like those who run the shopping centres. Everyone needs to chip in here and understand the predicament that their customers find themselves in here through no fault of their own.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
There are certain words that aren’t helpful but words that are being thrown around at the moment, ‘recession’, I mean we’re obviously in the middle of something like that at the moment and further to that, ‘depression’. Can you reassure the Australian public that we’re going to be okay through that and how do you do that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well I can reassure the Australian public that we have approached this health crisis with it’s very significant economic impact, from a position of strength, Karl. Just yesterday, the unemployment numbers we released for the month of February and showed that unemployment fell to 5.1% and more than 26,000 new jobs were created. So we have balanced the books. We delivered the first balanced budget in eleven years that means we now have the financial firepower to spend when the country needs it and we are spending and will continue to spend and we are working the Reserve Bank and the other key players to ensure that Australians are getting the support that they need. There is a bridge to recovery, there is the other side of this and we will get there.
ALLISON LANGDON:
Okay Treasurer, thank you so much for your time this morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good to be with you.