LEON BYNER:
So I asked Josh Frydenberg, first of all, how is this going to affect people personally and, indeed, economically?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, this obviously will hit the national economy, not least because Victoria is a quarter of the national economy and it will impact consumer and business confidence. In Victoria there are some 975,000 workers who are on the JobKeeper program and the vast majority of those will continue to be on that program after the end of September. But this is a very difficult time. It's a kick in the guts for Victorian businesses and people are really shocked by the announcements.
LEON BYNER:
Well, how's it going to affect you personally? For example, my sister, she can't see her nieces, my two nieces can't see each other and, of course, they're all more than five kilometres away from each other. This would be a tip of the iceberg, wouldn't it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I don't think you want to underestimate the emotional toll it will take on Victorians. I mean, we feel now with these curfews, stage 4 restrictions, the business closures, the school closures, the restrictions on when you can exercise and when you can shop, they are very severe. And they're going to be with us for some weeks yet. So I think people will feel pretty upset about it, they'll feel angry, they'll feel disappointed, they'll feel frustrated. We need to put those feelings aside and everyone needs to follow the rules because there is only one way to suppress those number of new cases and that's by following the rules.
LEON BYNER:
Treasurer, our peak industry body, Business SA, has today really come out big and said, "Look, we need more and quicker stimulus spending. Our State Government says, "There's no money left, we've done the best we can." Is there any room to move for us, because Martin Haese is saying a lack of stimulus, which we seem to have at the moment, will risk very low growth and very high unemployment. And he says that it will perpetuate the existing problems of the highest unemployment in Australia.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Leon, right now there is record amounts of money from the Federal Government going into the Australian economy, including in South Australia. The JobKeeper program is right now supporting three and a half million Australian workers. And at around $11 billion a month, it's unparalleled in size as an economic support package in Australia's history. We've also got the cashflow boost, which is grants of up to $100,000 effectively, to businesses based on the size of their payroll. We've also got a range of business investment incentives, whether it’s the instant asset write‑off or the 50 per cent accelerated depreciation program. So all of these initiatives from the Federal Government are designed to boost economic activity, but no one is understating how big a challenge we face and how significant and severe the impact is from the coronavirus. It's the biggest economic shock Australia has ever seen.
LEON BYNER:
Yeah. Do you think that, as a result of what's happened in Victoria in the last 24 hours, we may need another mini‑budget?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the budget will be delivered on October 6, and that's when I'll provide an update on the figures. But, as you can understand, the situation is very fluid and moving very quickly. But we continue to make announcements. We made the HomeBuilder announcement about supporting businesses and tradies. We've made announcements about the aviation sector, we've made announcements about the tourism sector. Recently, I announced the extension Leon, of the small and medium‑sized business loans that can now be up to a million dollars and for a period of five years, whereas previously they were loans up to $250,000 and for three years. More than 15,000 businesses, including those in South Australia, have taken up these loans. So there are a lot of things the Federal Government is doing designed to support the economy.
LEON BYNER:
That's the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.