6 May 2020

Interview with Michael Rowland, ABC News Breakfast, ABC

Note

Subjects: Treasurer’s Press Club Speech; Economic recovery from coronavirus; JobSeeker program

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Josh Frydenberg joins us from Canberra. Treasurer, good morning to you.

JOSH FRYDENBERG:

Nice to be with you Michael.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

The West Australian this morning is reporting you have received Federal Police protection around the clock because of threats you received during this pandemic. Can you tell us anymore about that?

JOSH FRYDENBERG:

No I can’t. They’re obviously matters that the Federal Police handle and I’ll leave any comments to them and the Minister for Home Affairs but they make their assessments and I behave accordingly.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Are you unsettled by these threats?

JOSH FRYDENBERG:

No, I’m getting about my daily job and yesterday made a speech to the National Press Club about the importance of getting people back into jobs and back into work and the $4 billion price tag from the restrictions, that is the loss of economic activity each week, as these restrictions stay in place and the importance of having them lifted in accordance with the medical advice.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Based on your speech and based on the Prime Minister’s media conference yesterday, is it fair to say that you, the Government, would like large parts of the Australian economy to be back in action by the start of July?

JOSH FRYDENBERG:

Well absolutely, in accordance with the medical advice of course, because that has been one of the real success stories for Australia in recent months. The fact is we saw just a few weeks ago the number of coronavirus cases here in Australia increase by more than 20 per cent per day. That is now well below one per cent. As a result of flattening the curve we should be able to ease those restrictions, and they’re the discussions that the National Cabinet had yesterday and they’ll have again on Friday. I think the lesson from history, particularly the early 1990’s in Australia when we saw a massive spike in unemployment, is that the quicker you can get people back into jobs and off those unemployment queues, the better off the economy will be and the better off those individuals will be.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Ok, some sectors though will take a bit more time, we speak of course about hospitality, about accommodation, about tourism certainly. What extra help will you provide those sectors?

JOSH FRYDENBERG:

Well again, that’s where the medical experts are looking at ways that you can bring back those sectors with the appropriate social distancing or other requirements in place. Sectors like construction, agriculture, mining, have been able to continue throughout this crisis while also accommodating those social distancing requirements. It’s a bit more difficult as you say in hospitality or in retail, but what we’re looking to do is to give confidence to the employers that they can get back into business because obviously they have to eat up what is left of their working capital in order to re-open and to re-stock their café or their restaurant. But at the same time, give consumers the confidence that they can go and shop freely or eat freely at the restaurants and at the cafes and know that the proper protocols and processes are in place when it comes to the medical requirements.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Domestic travel, could we, as the Prime Minister hinted, be able to travel interstate and possibly to New Zealand by the start of the school holidays in July?

JOSH FRYDENBERG:

Domestic travel is important, not just for the tourism market but also for the freight task. As you know, we have been providing some additional government support to the airlines to ensure that we’re able to move goods and services around the country as required. But at the same time, we’ve got to continue to follow the medical advice, and I think the domestic airline arrangements, domestic travel arrangements, will lift well before the international ones do.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Ok, now you confirmed yesterday that the temporary increase to the JobSeeker payment, the old Newstart, will be wound back as scheduled in September. Are you comfortable with the jobless then going back to receiving only $40 a day?

JOSH FRYDENBERG:

Well again, we’ve been very consistent in our position in relation to all our payments and our programs in the context of COVID-19. Namely, that they’re temporary, that they’re targeted, that they’re proportionate to the challenge but they’re also using existing tax and transfer systems…

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

You’ve been consistent with your message and I understand that, but it’s more of a philosophical question I’m asking you Treasurer. Does it sit well with your conscience for JobSeekers, and there’ll be 7 per cent unemployed according to the RBA by the end of next year, to go back to receiving only $40 a day?

JOSH FRYDENBERG:

Well Michael, our goal is actually to get those people off unemployment benefits and into a job, and the best way we can do that is to generate economic activity and the best way we can do that is to lift those restrictions…

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

But you know a lot of people will still be on the jobless queues. After the last recession we saw people in their 50s never entering the workforce again because they simply could not get a job. I’ll ask you again, in terms of your conscience, are you happy for people to go back to receiving only $40 a day?

JOSH FRYDENBERG:

Well I want people to get into a job and I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve been able, since coming to Government, to create 1.5 million new jobs, and that before this crisis we saw the unemployment rate fall to 5.1 per cent in February, bearing in mind it was 5.7 per cent when we came to Government. We saw the participation rate around record highs and we saw employment growth around double the OECD average. So that’s been our proven track record, Michael, of getting people into jobs. We’ll have to climb that mountain again on the other side of the coronavirus crisis, but that is also why we’re focused on the skills task and helping to equip people with the necessary skills, whether they’re entering the workforce for the first time or whether they’re re-skilling from their current job to maintain their employment. They’re the sort of issues that we’re focused on and that’s the work that we’ve commissioned through the Joyce Review.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Ok we’ll have to leave it there. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, thanks for joining us on News Breakfast.

JOSH FRYDENBERG:

Good to be with you.