KARL STEFANOVIC:
Good morning to you Treasurer. Live from Sydney…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, live from Sydney…
KARL STEFANOVIC
I saw you out and about yesterday. How was it to taste and feel the freedom Victorians can't?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, it was great to see people in Sydney going about their normal daily lives in a COVIDSafe way. The cafes were full and speaking to the business owners who had to close in the early stages of COVID-19 who put their staff on JobKeeper have now taken their staff off JobKeeper and are doing a roaring trade. And it's great to see people getting out and about going to work. And when you look at the number of cases that you have had in NSW it's even at one stage been higher than in Victoria. And you have had a number of days of cases of more than 10. Yet, in Victoria, as the numbers are coming down millions of Victorians are still subject to the harshest lockdown measures than we've seen nearly anywhere else in the world. So my message to Daniel Andrews is to get on with it. Is to stop stringing people along and give them an opportunity to get about their daily normal lives in a COVIDSafe way.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
There is no doubt over the weekend, I heard from many of my friends who have been pretty good about the lockdown and doing the right thing. There's no doubt that it's shifted and they are growing frustration amongst them all on how fast they're coming out of this. But the problem is you can't really do anything about it, can you?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, I'm calling on Daniel Andrews to do something about it for the people of Victoria, not for me, but for them. Because they're the ones who count. Kids are now starting to go back to school. But they’ve lost months of school. And you can't replace the experience in the classroom with the experience in the living room. And you have seen the mental health of young people deteriorate with a drastic increase in the number of calls to the various organisations that are providing that relief and you read these open letters to the Premier from GPs across the state who are saying that they're having to give anti-depressants to kids as young as 12 because of the impact of the lockdown. It's just heartbreaking Karl.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
I know.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Not to mention all the small businesses that are losing their livelihoods. Now, we are, as a Federal Government, the Morrison Government, we’ve provided $28 billion plus to the people of Victoria and we will continue to provide that support but it's up to Daniel Andrews, you know, to give people back their freedom. He's been criticised by the health profession. He's been criticised by the legal profession. He’s been criticised…
KARL STEFANOVIC:
He's not budging.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
… by the business community for not doing enough. Well, he’s even lost his Health Minister in the middle of a pandemic. He needs to budge. He needs to actually get on with it and give people back their lives in Victoria.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Okay.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Enough is enough.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
In Queensland should the Prime Minister really be campaigning during COVID? The Deputy Premier there says he should be focussed on there says he should be focussed on the pandemic. Is he right?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the Prime Minister is doing absolutely the right thing in talking about jobs for Queensland, jobs for Australians. He's out there and yesterday it was with a defence manufacturer, talking about how we will strengthen our nation, how we're investing record amounts in defence procurement here in Australia. Today he will be out and about again. Everyday he's talking about jobs. Everyday I'm talking about jobs. Yesterday, I was at a local café, the day before I was with a baker who employs more than 150 Australians. The day before I was in Penrith with a manufacturer who is producing fantastic equipment for construction sites across the country. These are the people who are going to make the decisions to hire more Australians and it's the decisions in every factory floor. It's the decisions in every shop front. It's the decisions on every farm. It's the decisions around every kitchen table that will help hire more Australians and get us out of the COVID-19 recession. Government, Karl is a catalyst for the recovery. It's not the solution. The solution lies in Australians hands.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
He's well and truly involved himself in the Queensland campaign now and the Deputy, I'm not sure you and the Prime Minister actively bagging the Deputy Premier in Queensland is wise, is it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, the Prime Minister's getting on with talking about jobs. That's his focus. The Deputy Premier can throw barbs at us. Again that looks pretty desperate. Our focus is on jobs. Visiting those businesses that are helping to create jobs. Releasing a Budget which has a roadmap for the economic recovery and, importantly, without the measures in this Budget, the unemployment rate according to Treasury will be 12 per cent this year and 12 per cent next year but these measures are giving business a fighting chance. These measures are helping to put more money into families’ pockets. These measures in the Budget are helping to guarantee the essential services.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Josh the problem is that Queensland businesses they have come out today and they're warning the state's spiralling debt in Queensland isn't sustainable and the border closures are draconian. The issue is that nothing is getting done about that and the Premier is not changing her mind and it is popular for her to keep those borders shut. So why would she change her opinion?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, closed borders cost jobs and we've seen not just the impact on the economy of those closed borders but we've also seen those heartbreaking stories about families that have been separated from loved ones at time of grieving at funerals or in times of getting access to medical treatment. So there are a lot of adverse consequences from those closed borders. I think Gladys Berejiklian has been absolutely right calling for those borders to be opened and putting that pressure on the Queensland Government and Karl, I would say to you, bring the Premier on and put to her the views of business. Put to her the views of people across her state…
KARL STEFANOVIC:
We have. We have.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…Who are seeing the negative impacts of those closed borders.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
We have. The issue is she says she's acting under medical advice and the medical advice has not changed. So is the medical advice wrong?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, there's medical advice to the NSW Premier and that is saying that the borders should be open. There's medical advice that's been discussed at the National Cabinet and that’s giving the Prime Minister the reason to be calling for the opening of the borders.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
I hope they're open soon. Good on you Treasurer. Thank you. Appreciate it.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good to be with you.