LEON BYNER:
Good morning and thank you for joining us. Let’s welcome the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. Minister, it’s good to have you on.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to be with you, Leon, and your listeners.
LEON BYNER:
Now, given the need for extra support for South Australian businesses - and we’re relatively Covid free - what does this say about the broader Australian economy?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, it’s a very challenging time for the broader economy because our two largest states economies - namely, New South Wales and Victoria - have been in lockdown for some period of time and, as you know, that has consequential effects in states like South Australia, particularly in the tourism industry where people can’t move freely across the borders. And, of course, with the higher vaccination rates that we’re now seeing and the more supply that’s coming online, we’re looking forward to the states reaching those 70 to 80 per cent targets agreed at national cabinet and easing restrictions from there.
LEON BYNER:
Now, the latest job numbers are out on Thursday. What are you expecting? Will they be in the 4s or will the unemployment rate creep up into the 5s?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the expectation from the market is that they will go up. As you know, it’s at 4.6 per cent today, which is at a 12-year low. Let’s not forget that when we came to government unemployment was at 5.7 per cent. So even after a horrible recession we have been successful in getting the unemployment rate down, and programs like JobKeeper have been very important. So we’ll wait and see what the numbers are. The market is expecting around 5, but that, again, is what the market is expecting and let’s just wait and see what the actual result is.
LEON BYNER:
How worried are you about the tourism sector and the associated jobs it brings? Because we’ve had border closures, we’ve had a decimation of many tourism businesses. What’s your take on that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as you know, the tourism sector in South Australia is a vibrant sector. It’s a critically important one in both jobs as well as overall economic activity. And you have so many wonderful places to visit and see. It’s a real pity that as a result of Covid and as a result of the border restrictions a lot of those businesses right now are doing it tough. So, as you know, Leon, early on in the pandemic we had those nation-wide economic settings like JobKeeper, like the cash flow boost, like the payments to veterans and carers, and we doubled the job seeker coronavirus supplement as well. Once we’ve moved into this next phase of the virus where we’ve seen particular states in lockdown we’ve had more bespoke approaches, like the Covid disaster assistance that helped 86,000 people in South Australia from the federal government as well as business support, including for the tourism sector. And then today we in partnership with the Marshall government are announcing further small business tourism and hospitality support.
LEON BYNER:
Yes, because I wonder how concerned you are about the tourism and associated jobs, closures and, of course, the domestic tourism boom before Christmas-New Year.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yes.
LEON BYNER:
Do you think we’re going to get that boom or do you think people are a little bit worried about travel?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I think people are inherently cautious, but once we receive or reach those vaccination rates I think people will want to start travelling again, particularly interstate but also internationally when they’re given the opportunity. So let’s hopefully get those targets sooner than later and then we can open the state borders, which, as the Prime Minister has indicated, we hope to have achieved by year end.
LEON BYNER:
Now, I’m going to ask you about home quarantine because we’ve got a trial going on in SA.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yes.
LEON BYNER:
Again, the federal government along with Victoria, Queensland, WA, they’re being - building quarantine facilities in these jurisdictions. Do you applaud that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I think the need for those larger quarantine facilities is there and I think then it becomes an asset for the commonwealth and, indeed, for the states. And, as you know, we’ve got construction underway in Victoria and we’ve been working with the Queensland and Western Australian and other governments on that. With respect to home quarantine, I think this is the way forward particularly as the international borders open and you get a lot more people coming in. It’s just not sustainable to have them in either existing hotel quarantine or just the additional quarantine facilities being built. I think you’ll need to have home quarantine, and certainly that’s what the federal government is focused on.
LEON BYNER:
Now, there would still be a lot of businesses, particularly small and medium, that need help.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yes.
LEON BYNER:
Is there any help and funding available if they’re in need?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, that’s what we’re announcing today, Leon. And these are grants of up to $20,000 for employing businesses in the tourism and hospitality sector. These are businesses that would have already received the Covid business support grant. Depending on the size of that business will mean a different grant amount, but up to $20,000. There’s also grants of $1,000 for non-employing businesses. And then on top of that there’s a new business hardship grant of $6,000 for businesses with payrolls below $10 million; $2,000 for non-employing businesses. And these are businesses that have experienced a minimum 50 per cent reduction in turnover and they haven’t been eligible for the previous business grant support scheme. So this is going to help tourism and hospitality businesses across South Australia. We’re expecting around three and a half thousand local businesses to benefit, so it’s a pleasure, together with my colleagues Simon Birmingham and Steven Marshall and Rob Lucas to announce this today.
LEON BYNER:
So, for those businesses applying for these grants, how difficult is it? What do you have to do?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, there’s a website that’s been set up, which is treasury.sa.gov.au/growing-south-australia/covid-19. If you go on that website you’ll be able to find the details about how to apply and, of course, this money will go into the businesses of South Australians. And, you know, on top of what we did with JobKeeper, let’s not forget the commonwealth put $4.8 billion through JobKeeper alone to South Australia, and that supported 60,000 South Australian businesses and more than 230,000 South Australians. So we’re continuing to provide that important economic support.
LEON BYNER:
How are the federal coffers looking after all these grants?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, certainly a bit lighter than they were.
LEON BYNER:
I bet.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The debt burden has increased. But, as you know, Leon, there was little choice but to provide this unprecedented and overwhelming economic support as our economy shut down. The good news is that economic support has worked - programs like JobKeeper have helped keep that formal connection between employers and employees. In the back half of last year we saw economic growth which was the strongest in 50 years. And ahead of any other advanced economy in the world, our economy was bigger by the end of the June quarter than it was going into the pandemic and more Australians were in work by the end of the June quarter than going into the pandemic. So we had seen a very strong recovery. Obviously that’s been hit by the recent lockdowns. But programs like JobKeeper, as your listeners will attest, has been a really important one in helping to save lives and livelihoods.
LEON BYNER:
Now, you made a very important speech during the week about China. And is it the fact that you’re now suggesting that we’re going to have to be far less reliant on them for economic help and stimulus than we were previously?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, it’s only prudent that we diversify our markets and that we ensure that our supply chains are resilient against economic shocks. The point of my speech was to underline the fact that economic interests for Australia are increasingly overlapping with national security interests.
LEON BYNER:
Yes.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
And we have been targeted by China’s economic coercion, whether it’s with respect to our beef, barley, coal, wine exports. But, importantly, our exporters have been successful in finding other markets. Sometimes they may not get the same price as they otherwise would have got from the Chinese purchaser, but they have been successful in finding other lucrative markets. So we’ve got wine that’s now going to Germany and Singapore; barley that’s going to Saudi Arabia; coal that’s going to other countries. And so this has been important in helping to strengthen our economy. And my point was that all businesses need to ensure that they have diversified markets and not to put all their eggs into one basket.
LEON BYNER:
As federal Treasurer do you feel that you’re doing everything that South Australia will require of you?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We certainly are, and we will continue to do what is required into the future. The thing this pandemic has taught us is we don’t know what’s around the corner. We are dealing with the Delta variant today. Who knows what the next variant will be. I do get worried about the impact that the virus is having on our kids, and certainly the ones in the southern states that have been out of the classroom in particularly Melbourne and Sydney for extended periods of time, I think that has an enormous impact, Leon.
LEON BYNER:
Yes.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I’ve got a four-year-old son who asked me over the weekend, he said, “Dad, will Covid ever go away?” And I said, “Yes, it will.” And he said, “Well, will it take millions of years?” And, you know, we can laugh about it, but what it just reinforced to me is that the kids are thinking about it every single day and they know something’s not right. They’re not with their friends in the classroom, they’re not with their teachers face to face. And in Victoria’s case, that’s been for more than 200 days. And so it has a huge impact not just on their personal development but also their educational advancement. And I think it’s incumbent on all states - and I’m including South Australia here - to get ready to keep schools open into the future even when we have maybe lockdowns, even when we have new variants. We’ve got to be smarter. We’ve got to be more creative. We’ve obviously got to focus on, you know, the vaccination of teachers and the ventilation of the classrooms and the social distancing required. But there’s too much at stake, Leon, with our kids’ future for them to be constantly in and out of the classroom or, in Melbourne and Sydney’s case, out of the classroom for such a long period of time. I think it’s quite traumatic for them and, yes, there are health risks, but also at the same time the health professionals who know a lot more than you or I say that the impact on kids is far less severe than what it is in older Australians.
LEON BYNER:
Are you in contact with both states - New South Wales and Victoria - about encouraging them to keep the schools open and trying to - because the camaraderie of the children being at school, apart from what they’re learning, is terribly important, isn’t it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It absolutely is and, you know, it’s at all levels - whether it’s at primary school or what we call kinder in Melbourne, they’re out of the classroom right now. Or it’s the year 11s and 12s. I mean, when I did year 11 and 12, they were your big years, they were your final HSC, what we called the higher school certificates. You did your debutante balls, you did, you know, your camaraderie events with your friends and, you know, you were focused on getting the marks to hopefully get into university or to pursue other dreams. And for year 11s and 12s, particularly in Victoria, they’ve had that taken away from them because they haven’t been in the classroom for the last two years for a large part. And so I think we’ve really a hit a fork in the road and I am talking to the relevant people about that. Obviously these are decisions that state governments need to take.
LEON BYNER:
Sure.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
But I just think all governments, including the one in South Australia, need to be working through national cabinet to ensure that we can get on top of that.
LEON BYNER:
All right. Just quickly, what was the last thing you told Steve Marshall?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The last thing I told him?
LEON BYNER:
Yeah, because I know you talk with him a lot.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yeah.
LEON BYNER:
As you do with all Premiers. What was the last thing you said to him?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I’ve said that we continue to support South Australians wherever they need it and that we’ve just got to get through this. And the thing that he’s been telling us, which is really positive, is his commitment to the national plan at national cabinet. Because, as you know, not all states have been on the same page, and Steve Marshall has been, you know, front and centre of leading these states through to the next stage of our opening up, which is, I think, really important.
LEON BYNER:
Okay. Just before I let you go, Josh Frydenberg, Christmas, do you think things will open up a bit so people can get together with their families and they’re not going to have too many restrictions? What do you think?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yeah, I think it would be great to come and have a glass of wine at the Barossa or, you know, visit Kangaroo Island or come up to Adelaide and see my old friend Sam Doyle. And so I’d love to do that, to come and visit friends, travel interstate, and obviously most importantly of all for your listeners, it’s families being reunited at Christmas time. I think that would be a very, very positive message and be very welcomed by so many Australians.
LEON BYNER:
Treasurer, thank you for coming on.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
My pleasure.