LISA MILLAR:
The Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, joins us now from Canberra. Good morning, Treasurer.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, nice to be with you, Lisa.
LISA MILLAR:
The Prime Minister yesterday said that the EU had blocked importation of 3.1 million doses of the vaccine. The EU says that's not true. Who should Australians believe this morning?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The Prime Minister said that those 3.1 million vaccines have not arrived and that's absolutely correct…
LISA MILLAR:
No, he said they were blocked from importation. "Blocked." He used the word "blocked."
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
What we do have before the EU, which has not yet got approval, is a request for a million vaccines to go to Papua New Guinea as a humanitarian act, because they've had an outbreak. We know that they blocked our initial 250,000 vaccine request and initially we wanted to put in a request for 500,000 of those vaccines to come to Australia. And they blocked those. And what the EU have said both publicly and privately is that they'll not be exporting the vaccine until they've met their domestic needs. Now, that's what they've said. So the fact that they're not giving approval is effectively the same as blocking.
LISA MILLAR:
Well, Minister David Littleproud said yesterday that we are three million short at the moment. We were three million short by the EU, they cut us short. The language is important, isn't it? Because the EU this morning said, no new decision to block any further imports into Australia has been made?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I'm just saying that the applications are before the EU. They've been there. They haven't received the approval. And in Papua New Guinea, they're urgently waiting for the vaccine and Australia is working with Papua New Guinea to support them in their hour of need. So the reality is those 3.1 million vaccines have not arrived as they should have.
LISA MILLAR:
But were they blocked? Were they blocked, as the Prime Minister said yesterday?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
They have the not been approved. And if you're not approving, it's the same as effectively you're blocking.
LISA MILLAR:
So the request was put in to the EU and they didn't approve it. Is that what happened?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That is what has occurred right now. We have not got approval for a million vaccines to go to Papua New Guinea in a humanitarian act. They are vaccines that were destined for Australia and they are vaccines that we want distributed across Papua New Guinea as a close friend and neighbour who is suffering with an outbreak. And that would be a very important development if the EU, as we've asked them to do, give approval for that.
LISA MILLAR:
Turning to the IMF take on the Australian economy, you would have been very pleased to see those results, but it does come with warnings that there are daunting challenges ahead. And certainly, when we look at what's going on in Australia - concern over housing prices and how high they can go. I mean, it doesn't mean that all bets are off for you, does it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, certainly the economic conditions continue to be very challenging domestically and internationally. And that's off the back of the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression. So there's no surprises in that. But what the IMF report does is, it states that Australia continues to recover very strongly. And it's confirmation that we have outperformed all major advanced economies over the course of the last year. So seeing Australia's economic growth forecast go up by a full percentage point to 4.5 per cent is good news. It's off the back of the fall in unemployment down to 5.8 per cent and 88,700 new jobs in the month of February. Jobs, all of which were full time – 40 per cent of those jobs went to young people. We've seen our AAA credit rating being reaffirmed and business and consumer confidence get back to its pre-pandemic levels.
LISA MILLAR:
On jobs, what would you be saying to workers in Whyalla this morning?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Obviously, the Government is talking with the South Australian Government about ensuring that we can continue to keep jobs in Whyalla. But that is a matter now before the courts. So it would probably be inappropriate for me to be talking about those specific matters.
LISA MILLAR:
Alright, on Christine Holgate, the former CEO of Australia Post. She's been furious in this submission that she's put to the Senate committee saying she was illegally forced out of the job. Malcolm Turnbull, the former Prime Minister, says there's no way she would have been treated the way she was, including by the current Prime Minister, if she was called Christopher Holgate and not Christine. Are there real questions about how she's been treated as a senior woman by this Government?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Christine Holgate is a good person, a decent person. Someone I've known for some time. She did put out a statement of resignation...
LISA MILLAR:
Has she been treated badly by this Government?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I think that she has been treated appropriately in the circumstances where the matters have been raised. But I obviously understand that this has been a very difficult time for her, but also for the organisation. I'm not going to get between those differences that she has with the chair of Australia Post, but the board has undertaken an executive search that's nearing its completion, and they will make an appointment of a new CEO in due course.
LISA MILLAR:
Josh Frydenberg, good to have you on. Rapid fire questions this morning. Appreciate your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
My pleasure.