KARL STEFANOVIC:
Treasurer, good morning to you. You finally got something right with the states.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to be with you. I tell you what, Australia got something right with the third successful Olympic city. It's wonderful news for the people of Brisbane, but also more importantly, for the country as a whole to host the world's biggest event is something we can all look forward to and Aussie gold hopefully will be flowing too.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
You're splitting the bill, as well. The Olympics have a long, long history of blowing out in terms of the budget. Are you on top of that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yeah, there's good cooperation actually between the Queensland Government and the Federal Government on the infrastructure that will be needed. We're all heavily invested in the success of this Olympic bid and obviously hosting the Olympics when it comes. Australia has a very proud track record, one of only a handful of countries, Karl, to have had three cities that will have hosted the Olympics and it's something we can all celebrate today in what are pretty difficult days.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
For sure. Let's get on to those difficult days. The Prime Minister said yesterday he has regret for initially saying the vaccine rollout was not a race. Josh, why not just say sorry?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, he has accepted responsibility and most importantly is putting in place the solutions that are required to roll out that vaccine as quickly as possible. Let's not forget that we have helped save 30,000 lives in Australia with our response to this pandemic. If we had seen the loss of life that was on average across the OECD, more than 30,000 Australians would have lost their lives and right now it's under a thousand. At the same time, our economic recovery has been a lot stronger and faster than nearly any other country in the world with a million jobs being created. But no one is glossing over the fact that right now more than 13 million Australians are doing it tough, really tough. Businesses are closed, kids are being home-schooled, families are apart and my empathy goes out to those people. But the good news from yesterday as well was that we hit the one million mark with the vaccine doses over the course of a week. The first million, Karl, took 45 days, the last million has taken seven days, and that number will only shrink in the weeks ahead.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
People are angry, people are frustrated. The PM won't say sorry. Are you prepared to say sorry for the rollout?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we accept responsibility, that's even more important, because what is key here is what takes us forward. Our focus is on ensuring as many people get the jab and that we can move through those stages of reopening that the Prime Minister laid out through National Cabinet and got the states' agreement to, and the Doherty Institute is doing that important work. But no country is doing it easy, Karl. The UK, yes, they are turning up at Silverstone, yes, they’re turning up at Wimbledon, but they have had more than 130,000 deaths. Yesterday, they had 50,000 cases and 94 deaths. Now we're going to have to have a hard conversation in this country in the weeks and the months ahead as to how we open up and the impact opening up will have, particularly on those people who haven't had the vaccine.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Sorry seems to be the hardest word though, right?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look, this is really, really difficult. This vaccine rollout…
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Just say it, Josh.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…dealing with the pandemic. We are accepting responsibility, and of course, we wanted the vaccine rollout to be faster than it's been, that's the key going forward.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
I'm sorry for every day that Ally has to work with me. I'm sorry.
ALLISON LANGDON:
So am I.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
I’m sorry. Just say it. It’s not hard.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I'm sorry for her too.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Let's talk about the economy. The September quarter will be bleak. Will we definitively avoid a second recession? We look to be heading to it as opposed to a V shape recovery, a W shaped recovery, will we avoid recession again?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We have bounced back much stronger than we initially thought. That was the experience of Australia through this pandemic, so I'm confident that while the September quarter will be tough, as long as we're able to get on top of the virus, then we'll continue to see Australia's strong economic recovery. Treasury estimate the lockdowns across these three dates is costing just over $300 million a day. So it is a big hit to the economy. We will see it play out in the unemployment numbers. We will see it play out in the growth numbers, but let's not forget, ahead of any other advanced economy in the world we have seen our employment levels get back to where they were before the pandemic. No other country, no other major advanced economy, has seen that speed of rapid economic recovery.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Will we avoid the recession, right?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Again, I'm confident we will and I'm confident that we have the plan to make it work.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Josh, good to talk to you today. Thanks for being on the show. As always, appreciate it.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you.