MADELEINE MORRIS:
Joining us now from Canberra is Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, thanks for your time this morning Treasurer.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning Madeleine.
MADELEINE MORRIS:
So why don’t you just come out and say it, this is going to blow the surplus, because I don’t think any Australian would care.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well the surplus has never been an end in itself. It’s always been about disciplined economic management, Australia living within its means so that we’d have the financial flexibility to respond to economic shocks whenever they may occur. Now clearly these fires are unprecedented, the loss of life, the loss of property and the fires are still burning and it will take some time to rebuild and the Commonwealth is stepping up with an additional and an initial $2 billion commitment through the National Bush Fire Recovery Agency and this is on top of existing payments and allowances and it will be on top of what the states will also provide, so that’s our focus.
MADELEINE MORRIS:
So when you’re ok, so you don’t want to say that it’s going to blow through the surplus but just looking at those numbers, $2 billion initial you’re saying? Cyclone Yasi in one state alone, the clean-up there was $5.6 billion. Is there an upper limit that you are expecting this to go to?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
So with Cyclone Yasi and also the Brisbane floods in 2010 - 2011, the total cost was around $5.6 billion for the Federal Government’s contribution. Now that was mainly through the allowances and the payments that are on top of this $2 billion. Only $360 million would be classified as what are called Category D payments with the states and that is from, that will be synonymous with what this $2 billion dollars is providing, and so what we are seeing here is an unprecedented contribution from the Federal Government, in light of what are unprecedented, devastation and fires that continue to burn.
MADELEINE MORRIS:
Does that take into account the Defence Force Bill or is that a separate pot of money?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That’s a completely separate line item so to speak in the Budget. But the bottom line for us is not what it looks like in the Budget, the bottom line for us is getting the support to those communities. We need to rebuild lives, we need to restore livelihoods, we need to help communities get back on their feet, and this $2 billion will go to small businesses, primary producers, farmers who need to replant and restock as well as mental health support, infrastructure such as social and economic infrastructure and environmental protection because the damage to wildlife has been extreme in these bushfires and it’s going to take years to help our wildlife recover and this money will help contribute to that.
MADELEINE MORRIS:
Isn’t the greatest environmental protection going to be improving Australia’s response to climate change and you know, so far you’ve, the Government has been saying we are doing enough but I just want to take you to a UN report which, that came out in November of last year that said to avoid catastrophic climate change, countries now need to reduce emissions by 7.6 per cent per year, per year, this decade otherwise we’re going to have catastrophic climate change. Isn’t now the time to take the mantle and change that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well we’re part of an international solution because this in an international problem and that is why we committed to reducing our emissions by 26 to 28 per cent by 2030 on 2005 levels, and our emissions have been going down since 2005 but if you compare to other countries for example China, India, New Zealand they’ve actually been going up since that time. And so…
MADELEINE MORRIS:
…Well our emissions have actually been going up for the last couple of years, they’ve dropped back in the last year or so and I can provide you with the detail on that but just to take you back to…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…Well Madeleine, Madeleine with the greatest respect our emissions are down 12.9 per cent since 2005. It…
MADELEINE MORRIS:
…Yeah which largely came in as a result, sorry with respect Treasurer, as a result of the Carbon Tax which your, the previous government then repealed…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…No not at all we’ve now, we’ve now actually got the transition in the energy sector where we will actually reduce our emissions in the energy sector by 26 to 28 per cent. It’s estimated some eight years earlier than 2030. What we’ve got is one in five Australian homes with solar, what we’ve seen renewable energy investments more than double in France, the United Kingdom and in Germany. So with the greatest respect with Snowy 2.0, with the Battery of the Nation in Tasmania, with the other support that we’re providing, the $3.5 billion Climate Solutions Package, what we are focusing on is meeting and beating our international commitments, being part of an international solution but also doing so in the most cost effective way. I saw this as Energy and Environment Minister, there are real challenges in reducing your carbon footprint but we are doing it and will continue to do so.
MADELEINE MORRIS:
There sure are and just briefly cause I know you have to go Treasurer but this is now a major economic issue for our country, we’re at the front end of this. What are you most worried about in terms of the impact on the economy?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well it’s too early to tell what the full economic impact will be because you know, clearly all those businesses in those communities have been impacted, been hit at exactly the wrong time of the year, when they’re the busiest time of the year. So there’s going to be a very significant economic impact but it is too early to tell what that full impact will be but like I said our priority with the unprecedented call out of the Defence Force, with the movement of Chinook helicopters and Black Hawk helicopters ferrying the, ferrying the firefighters to the most difficult terrain, the use of amphibious vessels to evacuate people from places like Mallacoota , the delivery of eighteen thousand litres of fuel which the ADF did the other day to people in need. This is what we’re focusing on. Getting the Australian Tax Office to give a two month reprieve to people to put in their lodgements and their payments, the work that we’re doing with Centrelink. We want to get money out into these communities as fast as possible because we want to help them rebuild, to recover and to be more resilient for the future.
MADELEINE MORRIS:
Treasurer thank you very much for your time this morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good to be with you.