KIERAN GILBERT:
Treasurer. Haven't you just shown that more money does buy more vaccine? Why was the government so flat footed in the first place?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, today's announcement is a massive boost to our vaccine supplies. 85 million Pfizer doses coming Australia's way. And as you know Kieran, we have brought forward 3 million doses from Q4 this year to Q3 and they are jabs that are making their way into people's arms. So it’s not the question of the price you pay for the Pfizer vaccines which determine your quantity. It's actually about the capacity of the company to be producing vaccines for the very many markets that are in demand right now...
KIERAN GILBERT:
...But if it’s not the dollars, it’s the intervention from our minister, isn't it? The Prime Minister spoke to the global chief of Pfizer and miraculously, we get 85 million doses. The government was flat footed on this wasn't it? Because we're talking about doses for next year, not this crisis this six months ahead, which, frankly, is a crisis facing the nation?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The doses that we've just secured will be booster shots and that's really important because this virus is not going away. There's one ticket out of this crisis and that's vaccinations. And that's why we have secured as many of the Pfizer vaccine and indeed, the Moderna vaccine and indeed the AstraZeneca vaccine as we possibly can. Now with respect to the vaccines that we've got this year, and the Prime Minister has been fully engaged, as well as Greg Hunt, the health minister and our public servants in getting as many of these doses as possible to Australia. The good news, though, is that we have been successful in vaccinating the most vulnerable cohorts, the most vulnerable members of our population, we're now over 75 per cent of the over 70s Kieran.
KIERAN GILBERT:
The most vulnerable cohort today is Southwest Sydney. Now, Mick Fuller says it's the only way out, you've said it's the ticket out. Why doesn't the government take the authority to send the vaccines to Southwest Sydney? I know there are parochial arguments of play, but you're talking about a quarter of the nation's economy. It’s going to cost lot less to vaccinate that area, to do that as an urgency rather than worry about parochial politics at the state level. Why don't you intervene and do that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as you know, we've already made more doses available to Sydney and New South Wales and to the Berejiklian Government, around 150,000 earlier this month, and then the Prime Minister has announced further vaccines that are available ‑ both Pfizer and AstraZeneca…
KIERAN GILBERT:
It’s a drop in the ocean though isn’t it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The key here is what was recommended yesterday by ATAGI. That advice, that medical advice, that new advice that they've provided, is extremely significant. We now have an alignment between the reality on the ground with the outbreak in Greater Sydney, and the medical advice. That's very, very significant. Because what ATAGI has said is that for any adult in the Greater Sydney Area, they are strongly recommending that people receive the vaccine, regardless of which one they're eligible for. And that's important, because we know we've got AstraZeneca available. But we haven't seen the huge take up that we saw earlier on in the pandemic…
KIERAN GILBERT:
Isn’t the brand damage too great? Sadly isn’t the brand damage too great to see that uptake?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
No, it's not Kieran, no it’s not. because what we now have is the spread of the virus in New South Wales, the dangers that poses to people's health and the benefits that individuals can receive from getting that AstraZeneca vaccine. Look at the numbers. Depending on your age, if you get COVID you have about a one and 100 chance of dying, that's international experience. Yet from complications with the AstraZeneca vaccine, you have around one in a million chance of dying. So it's a no‑brainer, get vaccinated. The risk now is far greater than the benefit.
KIERAN GILBERT:
I could not agree with you more on that. I want to ask you about a few other things this morning. The protests yesterday ‑ were you appalled by that lawlessness that we saw on the streets, Sydney particularly?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Stupidity writ large, just shocking. Really shocking images and everyone is rightly concerned about it and those protesters should be condemned for not just breaking the health orders and therefore breaking the law, but for putting in danger, their fellow Australians. Those protests have no place in the middle of this crisis, the middle of this pandemic.
KIERAN GILBERT:
Should New South Wales Premier Berejiklian be going harder now? There's talk of a curfew, would you like to see her go harder to nip this in the bud to make it a shorter lockdown, rather than a long drawn out one?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, they have pretty significant restrictions now in place in terms of impeding people's movements around the state. There are very few reasons as to why people can leave their home and there are time restrictions on that. So they should maintain a watching brief and take the advice that is available to them. Obviously, these lock downs, they need to also make allowances for supply chains being maintained, as well as other particular circumstances that are really important in the context of a lockdown to allow, for example, to allow families to see their dying loved ones or other issues that may arise back. The government must maintain a watching brief on this and do what is required to get on top of the virus.
KIERAN GILBERT:
So if they need to step it up, they need to step it up. Now, you've said that New South Wales is the gold standard. Do you concede that it's definitely not the gold standard in the face of the Delta strain? Last month the Prime Minister said I commend Premier Berejiklian for resisting going into full lockdown. Less than a month later, she says this is now a national emergency.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, a couple things to say is we've been dealing with this virus now for more than 15 months. New South Wales did really well, early on. When other states went into lockdown, they avoided that fate and as a result, their economy prospered and people had their freedom of movement and of course that was a massive benefit to the country as a whole. With the Delta strain the rules have changed, and it's a lot more difficult to contain, it’s a lot more contagious, it's indeed more dangerous. And obviously New South Wales is paying a very heavy price right now for the outbreaks that they have encountered. But if you look at the number of days New South Wales has been in lockdown it's a smaller number compared to other states like mine.
KIERAN GILBERT:
Sadly they're catching up though. The New South Wales Treasurer Dominic Perrottet says we believe JobKeeper was instrumental in keeping the nexus between workers and businesses. This won't be forever but we need it now. He’s pleading for JobKeeper to return. Will you be listening to him?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we have a set of payments now that are moving fast, and they're flexible, and they're delivering money in as quickly as 40 minutes..
KIERAN GILBERT:
It’s not good enough, he says he wants JobKeeper…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, he knows that we have entered into an agreement with the New South Wales Government to go 50‑50 on business support. That's money that is going to businesses with a turnover of under $50 million, and around half a million businesses are eligible for that, and to households and to families and to individual workers. And those payments at $600 and $375 are at the level JobKeeper was in the December quarter last year.
KIERAN GILBERT:
So no JobKeeper return then?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Right now we have effective payments that are going out to households, and more than 600,000 payments have gone out the door, Kieran, more than $300 million has been paid. And I'll give you a very practical example of how this is even more flexible than JobKeeper. I was contacted by a CEO recently, who has more than 50 pubs in the three states that are locked down ‑ New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. They have more than 2000 staff, yet because they're a national business, their turnover has not reduced by sufficient amount that would have qualified them under the JobKeeper rules ‑ namely, more than a 50 per cent reduction in turnover for larger size businesses. Their staff wouldn't have got JobKeeper right now because their businesses in Queensland and elsewhere are profitable, yet their workers, their 2000 workers, are able to access these $600 and $375 payments. So it's a lot more flexible, it's available to casuals, and it's money that's going out the door as quickly as 40 minutes.
KIERAN GILBERT:
Treasurer Frydenberg, as always, I appreciate your time. Thank you.