LISA MILLAR:
Good morning, Treasurer. Welcome to News Breakfast.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to be with you, Lisa.
LISA MILLAR:
Lots of talk this morning already about perhaps a one‑off payment to people in Victoria who are struggling. What are you considering?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the pandemic is not over, and neither is the support from the Morrison Government. Last night I had a constructive conversation with my Victorian counterpart, Treasurer Tim Pallas. The Prime Minister spoke to the Acting Premier, James Merlino. We recognise that with the extension of the lockdown, Victorian families and businesses are doing it tough, as you know. In Victoria, people have been subject to now a fourth lockdown, something that other states have been spared, and the Morrison Government has been there for not just Victorians but for Australians from day one of this crisis, and will continue to provide that support. So, we'll stick to the principles that have guided us to date with our economic support packages, namely that it will be temporary, that it will be targeted, that they will be measured and that they'll be using existing systems. And we'll have more to say about that in due course.
LISA MILLAR:
Okay, so you are guaranteeing, though, that there is going to be help from the Federal Government because that is a step further than you were going yesterday ‑ I should say extra help. Disaster recovery scheme, the one‑off payment. Will people have to prove that they're not earning money? How are you going work that out?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, I'm not going to pre‑empt the details.
LISA MILLAR:
You can give us a hint. Lots of people watching in Victoria. You know Josh Frydenberg, there are people watching News Breakfast in Victoria who are hanging on every word you are saying right now.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
And they know that we have been there to support the Victorian people with $45 billion that's already been delivered. That's around three times what the state has delivered and we also have existing programs. But yesterday I said that it would be the principles that would guide us, and I said that I would speak to the Treasurer in Victoria and I did last night, I heard him out and we’ll have more to say about that in due course.
LISA MILLAR:
You'll be expecting them to match that? I'll let you fix up the headphone ear piece.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Sorry.
LISA MILLAR:
That's okay, I wouldn't want you to miss anything. The Victorian Government said that they would put forward $459 million, that's two separate payments. So the Federal Government matches that? What do you do?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, firstly, $250 million of that from the state government was in week one, and we made a decision that we would not be providing support in the first week of that lockdown. Other states went through short‑term lockdowns ‑ namely Queensland and Western Australia. They didn't ask for extra federal support. They didn't receive extra federal support and that was after the end of JobKeeper. But now that the lockdown has been extended, then we obviously are considering the implications of that and we do understand the need that Victorian families and businesses have right now. And hopefully, when the details of those, the easing of restrictions are announced by the state government, that that will come as some relief, particularly to regional Victorians, because you've got a situation, for example, in a regional city like Mildura who are probably watching your show today. More than 50,000 people, more than 500 kilometres away from Melbourne. They haven’t had a case for 13 months and yet they were subject to the same restrictions and lockdown as the people in inner Melbourne. So all those responses and decisions by the state government really do need to be proportionate to the challenges that we face.
LISA MILLAR:
You were stressing yesterday in your press conference that Victorians have had 140 days and it will end up being more in lockdown, that the rest of Australia on average had six. And that Victorian students had been out of school for 21 weeks compared to 29 days elsewhere. Do you understand why it's happened? Why Victoria is in this situation?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, they're only answers that the state government can provide, but they are the questions that Victorians are asking, and legitimately asking. As you know, it's been the same virus nationwide, indeed, globally it's been the same quarantine facilities that have been able to be accessed in to New South Wales as in Victoria. It's been the same technology with respect to QR code systems that are available in New South Wales as in Victoria. But if you take out the first initial nationwide lockdown, since then Victorians have been subject to 140 days of lockdown, whereas the average across the other states and territories has just been 6 days...
LISA MILLAR:
I'm glad that you raised quarantine though in that explanation, because why is the Federal Government taking so long to make a decision when you've got Jane Halton saying – she is perplexed ‑ and she was the one who said back late last year that it had to get fixed, that best practice wasn’t being followed. Why the delay in a decision?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, a couple of things there. Firstly, Lisa, we did put $500 million in the Budget for Howard Springs and that work is under way to take it to 2,000 people in the Northern Territory. With respect to the Victorian application, we're giving it due consideration. We're giving it favourable consideration.
LISA MILLAR:
You said that a few weeks ago and you said that you would make the decision pretty quickly and we still don't have a decision.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Obviously, you're talking large sums of money. We’ve been talking through the details of the location, because more than one location was put forward. And obviously, we've had conversations with the state government there. And it's important to understand that designated facility in Victoria would be over and above the existing hotel quarantine facility that exists in Victoria as it exists in other states. I think that’s important to acknowledge.
LISA MILLAR:
So how long for a decision? How long before we get a decision? Given...
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It's imminent.
LISA MILLAR:
It's imminent? What's imminent mean?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, days is how I would put it. And obviously, the Prime Minister and my Cabinet colleagues have been discussing these matters.
LISA MILLAR:
Alright. Just finally, 139,000 vaccinations yesterday. Over the last 24 hours. It is definitely an improvement, driven a lot by people, quite frankly, panicking in Victoria, but it is still way short of where you'd like it to be?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the vaccination rollout is gaining pace, and as you know, initially, there were issues with supply. There were issues with respect to AstraZeneca being available to people under the age of 50. But 700,000 people have received the jab in just the last seven days. And initially, it took 47 days to distribute and deliver the first million jabs. It's taken 13 days to deliver the last million jabs and as you say, people's hesitancy to get the jab is being reduced, particularly as they see events unfold in Victoria. I got the jab a few days ago as I'm under the age of 50 and the Pfizer was made available to me as a Victorian. I would encourage everybody to get the jab if they are entitled to do so. Because the more people who do, the safer we will be.
LISA MILLAR:
Treasurer, we're going to have stern words with that ear piece once you're done! Thanks for persevering, and thank you for your time this morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
My pleasure.