MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The Treasurer Josh Frydenberg joins us now from Melbourne. Treasurer, good morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, Michael, nice to be with you.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Great to have you on board. I want to talk about those savings in just a moment, but let's start with that Newspoll out this morning showing support for the Coalition has crashed to the lowest level since the party rolled Malcolm Turnbull in 2018. Now I know you're about to say the only poll that counts is the one on election day, but there was a similar poll, as you know, in the nine newspapers a couple of weeks ago showing a similar crashing in support for the Coalition. Do you have any idea of why voters are turning away from the Coalition?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well I do think there's a message in this Newspoll and it does reflect the fact that so many Australians have had their summer disrupted, they're frustrated that COVID continues to extend nearly two years on, and of course, some people wanted to go and get a RAT test and the supplies weren't there. And we know that, you know, there are other challenges that continue to be posed by the pandemic. So we acknowledge all of that, but at the same time the overarching fundamentals of the economy and our health settings are very strong. Australia's vaccination rate is over 95 per cent first dose, over 93 per cent second dose, we know that our mortality rates are one of the lowest in the world and we know that when it comes to our economic recovery our unemployment rate is now at its lowest level in more than 13 years. So we've got to look through some of the current challenges that we face and look to the rest of the year with confidence and hope knowing that we are well placed.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
You've only got four months though until the election and voters have been hearing your message certainly on the economy for weeks now but they're still, according to this poll, they're not buying what you're selling. That's a worry, isn't it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well as you just said, you know, polls will come and go, and we know that there are still a number of months until the next election and the Australian people will make their decision then and there, after what will be no doubt a hard‑fought campaign. But many political obituaries were written ahead of the 2019 election and many false prophecies were made by those in the media, dare I say it, and our political opponents and they turned out to be wrong. So no one should get ahead of themselves. We know what needs to be done. We have an economic plan that we're rolling out and some of those numbers where we see people going into work, 1.7 million more Australians in work today compared to when the Coalition came to Government, including one million more women, is something to celebrate, but something not to be complacent about either.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay, just one more question on the poll before we move to these new figures. Support for Scott Morrison has fallen. Anthony Albanese, the opposition leader, is on the verge of overtaking him as the preferred Prime Minister. In Newspoll stakes it wasn't too long ago that the Prime Minister enjoyed a double‑digit lead on this front. Is Scott Morrison the best person to lead the Coalition to the election?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yes, he is. He will be the first Prime Minister since John Howard to serve a full term and to go to an election. Australians know that he is working hard every day to deliver the best health and economic outcomes. Now of course he's been subject to some pretty hard personal attacks and obviously that's taken its toll. But I know he is very resilient, and I know he's also very focused to work hard for the Australian people.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
I ask that question because as our viewers know, the Liberal Party has a pretty brutal history about dispatching leaders who aren't working for them. So his job is safe is what you're saying?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yes, I am.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay. Let's turn to those figures, $424 billion, that includes households and business. I want to focus on households. They've saved all this money, but do you fear that instead of spending it households are seeing these messages that the Reserve Bank might start to be raising official interest rates some time sooner rather than later and may choose, for instance, to pay down debt instead of go out and spend and help revive the economy?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well Australians are ahead on their mortgage payments and that's reflective of the fact that they have saved more through this pandemic, as you would expect, because they've been more cautious than otherwise would be the case. They're not travelling interstate or overseas as they otherwise would so that money is being retained at home. They couldn't go to a cafe or to a restaurant as they normally would over the course of the last two years as the health restrictions took effect. And, of course, we've been putting more money into people's pockets, Michael, through tax cuts and other COVID economic support payments. That's boosted household disposable income, particularly for low and middle‑income earners. That money will be spent and that is a war chest that will help underpin the economic recovery.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Matt Kean, the New South Wales Treasurer, as you know, isn't too happy about the Federal Government not stumping up support for the new JobSaver announcement yesterday. That's the sort of friendly fire you really can't deal with, can you, this close to the election? What do you say to him?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well South Australia announced a small business support package just yesterday and they didn't come to the Commonwealth asking for a 50/50 split, they just did it themselves. We welcome their announcement and we also welcome New South Wales investing in their own particular economic response. But the Commonwealth has done the bulk of the heavy lifting, Michael, when it comes to the economic support packages. We've delivered into New South Wales alone more than $63 billion and currently we also have emergency economic support with the COVID disaster payment which provides up to $750 a week for people who are a designated close contact, or they have the virus and they're forced to isolate. And that's gone to more than 200,000 people in New South Wales and the Commonwealth has picked up 100 per cent of that bill. We are also providing to small business a loan guarantee scheme with loans of up to $5 million and we enable small businesses to go to the Tax Office and get a cash refund if they've incurred a loss against the taxes that they've previously paid, and that's called a loss carry back scheme. So we've got measures in place to support households and businesses, but we can't fund every program that a State Government comes up with. They've got their responsibilities, we've got ours, and we'll continue to meet our obligations.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay, so that's it, no more support looking for, for that matter any state or territory, asking for financial help to deal with pandemic‑related issues?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Michael, we're moving to more normalised settings. Omicron is less severe. We don't have 13 million Australians in lockdown today like we did with Delta, and people are continuing to spend. Yes, some spending came off in the January period. Yes, the pressure's on our health system. Yes, there's pressures on supply chains and yes, there's pressures on cost of living. But at the same time the fundamentals of the economy are sound. We're seeing the recovery gain momentum and I'm very confident about the rest of the year. I see the glass as very much more than half full.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Finally, school's back, certainly across Melbourne, Victoria today. As a parent that makes me very happy. I know you're a parent of young kids as well. What has the Federal Government been told about the expected spike in cases once we have this increased movement with kids going to and from schools?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well no doubt as you get people into a concentrated setting you may see increased cases, but we do also know that the steps that the Governments are taking, both Federal and State, to support the roll out of RAT tests to kids and to teachers to ensure at the State level they're putting extra funding into ventilation for the various schools, and of course there's mask wearing and other social distancing requirements that are being adhered to. All that combines to create a COVID‑safe environment. And you know, Michael, how important it is for our kids to get back into the classroom. They had to spend time in Victoria, more than a year out of that classroom, and that impacted on their mental health, that impacted on their educational development, and also on their personal development and their social development as they couldn't catch up with their school mates or be face‑to‑face with their teachers. So we do need to see the kids back at school. That's what the medical health experts have told us and that is why we're taking steps to encourage parents to send their kids back to school and to make that the best possible and safe experience for those kids.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Let's hope it all goes well. Treasurer, thanks for joining us this morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you.