LEON BYNER:
Josh Frydenberg. Good morning. Are you going to take the advice literally of our Chief Health Officer and don't touch that ball?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, that was passing strange that advice, but I saw the Chief Medical Officer, herself say she hasn’t been to many football games, you and I both know that if you’re sitting in a crowd and the torpedo punt comes your way, you don’t often have much choice as to whether or not you touch it. Otherwise you get hit on the scone. We know that scones should be reserved for jam not for hits on the head.
LEON BYNER:
Well said. Now listen, how are we going with our National Accounts?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Very strongly. We saw during the week, the March quarter results, which show that the Australian economy grew by 1.8 per cent, that beat market expectations. Importantly, Australia's economy is now bigger today than it was going into the pandemic. We've achieved that ahead of any advanced economy around the world. And while Europe has now gone into a double dip recession, and economies such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, all contracted last quarter, the Australian economy expanded. And what was really pleasing Leon, about these numbers…
LEON BYNER:
Yep.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…it shows that it is a private sector led recovery, more people are buying and building homes. So dwelling investment was at its highest level we've seen in around 17 years, machinery and equipment, investment and purchases were their highest level in around 11 year and farm output, off the back of a strong winter crop, is now at its highest level through the year in again 17 years. So we're seeing very strong figures indicating that the momentum in our COVID recovery is very much building.
LEON BYNER:
Hospitality sector is still copped it a lot because they've had to endure lockdowns, restricted travel. Are you mindful of this because obviously the hospitality sector from the economy's point of view and the community is very important. It's a significant part?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It is and what was interesting in the household consumption numbers in the National Accounts was that there was a lift in services related spending. So hotels, cafes, restaurants, at all picked up quite significantly. And as you know, we’ve put in place programs, like the half price airfares around the country, which are helping support the tourism sector, the aviation sector and of course, the hospitality sector. So as restrictions are eased, confidence comes back, people will spend in those hotels, in those cafes and restaurants.
LEON BYNER:
Tell me how has the Victorian lockdowns, of which there have been four so far, how's that affected the national economy?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well it dents confidence, it obviously hurts investment and ultimately it does cost jobs. It's very sad, distressing, devastating for many to see Victoria going into its fourth lockdown. If you take out that period of the initial nationwide lockdown Leon, Victorians had been through 140 days of stage three and stage four restrictions. That compares to an average across the other states and territories of just six days. 140 days in Victoria, just six days and you take kids who have been out of school in Victoria, kids have been out for 21 weeks. And the impact I think on their mental health is pretty devastating. There’s a very important report that's come out from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and other reputable professors who have pointed to the impact the lockdown and particularly kids being absent from school is having and I think these decisions are obviously taken at a state level not by the Federal Government. State leaders have to be very conscious of the impact that these lockdowns have, particularly when they close the schools.
LEON BYNER:
I know that there's been a lot of discussion federally, and as the Treasurer you would need to authorise the money, about a purpose built facility for quarantine. This surely is something that is very welcome, isn't it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as you know, it's over and above the hotel quarantine facilities. So we put in the Budget half a billion dollars to expand the Howard Springs quarantine facility in the Northern Territory up to 2000 beds in the states, they've been having a hotel quarantine program, which has worked by and large effectively. What we though, have a proposal from Victoria to have an additional specific purpose built facility that will be in addition to hotel quarantine, and we have provided an MOU to the Victorian Government, which is being worked through between our officials and their officials.
LEON BYNER:
Are you optimistic about the next quarter in terms of growth, and particularly for SA?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I am optimistic about the momentum building across the economy. I certainly wouldn't want to be in any other country but Australia, and the unemployment rate has come down to 5.5 per cent nationally. And that is even after the end of JobKeeper and as you remember, our political opponents said the sky would fall in and it would have, you know, tragic consequences. Well, the reality is it was the right call to end JobKeeper and it's been a positive result for the economy since. In South Australia, your unemployment rate’s at 5.7 per cent. So slightly above the national average. But you did see more than 15,000 jobs being created in South Australia in April. And you also saw in the National Accounts Leon, a boost of 1.4 per cent to the state economy in the March quarter. So things are looking positive for South Australia. But no one can be complacent because the economic recovery does depend on us continuing to suppress the virus.
LEON BYNER:
Josh, thank you for coming on today.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
My pleasure.