MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Treasurer good morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
You’ve said a recession in Australia is hard to avoid. I don’t think I'm being alarming in asking this following question, are we heading for a full-scale depression?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well what I can tell you is that the Australian economy has approached this health crisis which is having a significant economic impact from a position of strength. We are deploying all the means at our disposal to support the economy and yesterday we saw over $100 billion of funding injected into the financial system by the RBA and by the Government. And we will get to the other side, we are building that bridge to the recovery phase. It will take some time. No medical professional can tell you, Michael, what the definitive end date for this is, but we will do everything within our disposal at our means, to support Australian jobs and Australian businesses.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
We’ve heard the U.N. Secretary General overnight Antonio Guterres saying we are heading for a full-scale recession, the likes of which the world has never seen. I asked about a depression, is the Government factoring in all possibilities here?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We obviously are very conscious of the massive impact this is having on the Australia economy. We make no apologies for the health measures that we’ve taken, whether they are border protection measurers with travel restrictions or whether they are social distancing rules. They're all designed to protect the Australian community, but they all have a massive economic impact. And Australia is not alone here, Michael. You’ve seen what’s happened in Italy, you just referred to it at the introduction of your program. And we just don’t know how long this will go. The Prime Minister has prepared the Australian people by saying that this will go for at least six months and we will of course continue to work day and night to support the economy and to support the public.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
If the Government had to, would you nationalise private companies?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That’s not our focus right now, our focus right now is on our second…
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
…But down the track might it be?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look obviously the economic situation has got worse and we want Australian companies to get through this. We’ve announced a number of significant measurers designed to support the small and medium sized business sectors, the wages of apprentices and the like, and we’ll have a second package of measures also designed to support the economy. But together with yesterday’s announcement, and you do not want to understate how significant yesterday’s announcement was, we will continue to do what it takes to support Australian jobs and businesses.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay but I just want to press the point for arguments’ sake, if a company deemed essential to the operation of Australia, for instance Virgin, was in trouble, would nationalisation, temporary, be an option for the Government?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well when it comes to the aviation sector you’re absolutely right, it is critical to the Australian economy and of course vital to the Australian community and their ability to move both domestically and internationally. That’s why we announced a more than $700 million package for the aviation sector which involved lower fees and in fact rebating fees that had already been paid. That was done, not on a company specific basis, but on a sector wide approach, and we will continue to support that sector and other sectors.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
But still Qantas, as we’ve seen sadly has had to temporarily stand down 20,000 members of its workforce despite that package from the Government, so what next? What do you do now to help the aviation industry?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well it’s inevitable that the aviation sector, the tourism sector, the hospitality sector, the international education sector, the arts sector, they're all being hit very badly by the impact of this coronavirus. That’s why we have been announcing and will continue to announce a number of measures designed to support those companies. What we’re focused on, is getting to the other side of this. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, ‘this is not the beginning of the end, this is merely just the end of the beginning’, there is a long way to go here and the Australian Government will support Australian companies.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Many of our viewers are absolutely terrified about losing their jobs, and the impact that will have on their families in the months ahead. You gave those $750 payments to welfare recipients and pensioners in your first round, will you now consider direct payments to all Australian households?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well I don’t want to rule-in or rule-out particular measures because we’ve yet to finalise our second package. What I can say to you though Michael, is that the second package will be different in scope and nature to the first package. The first package was a stimulus package with important measures like you say, $750 cash payments to six and a half million Australians, as well as investment incentive and the like. This second package is more about cushioning the blow for those Australians who may find themselves out of work as well as continuing to support small businesses because we want them to be able to meet the fixed costs, whether that’s rent, whether that’s water, whether that’s electricity or indeed the wages bill, that they still will have to meet even though the customers may not come through the door.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Many vulnerable members of the community are suffering in particular. Will the Government consider a permanent increase to Newstart?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Again, I’m not going into the details of the particular package, but we’ve always been very clear, whether it’s with package one of package two, we’re not looking to structurally bake-in long term expenditure into the Budget that we can’t remove. This is going to be a temporary challenge, it may go for six months or more, but it’s going to be a temporary challenge and our focus is on targeted measures, using the existing tax and transfer system, and making it as simple and as easy as possible for Australians to get that support.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay and finally I know you’ve got to go Treasurer, you, the Prime Minister, Peter Dutton and other ministers are urging people to stop hoarding, to stop panic buying, to stop behaving in unruly ways in our supermarket aisles, we’ve all seen the pictures, it is still happening though. Baby nappies are the latest product to be in very short supply and that is distressing so many mums and dads around the country, so what do you do next? Do you call in the police? Do you mobilise troops? How do you stop this panic buying from continuing?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well you’re absolutely right this panic buying is unacceptable. Australia is a country that produces enough food for 75 million people and we are a country of 25 million people, so we’ve got enough food. The supermarkets will continue to have their shelves full of Australian food as the major retailers go about restocking in light of this increased demand, and Australians need to respect each other. We have set up a working group with the Federal Government, with the ACCC, with the major retailers, with the logistics suppliers to ensure that there is no disruption to those supply chains. In fact, last night I was on the phone to the head of Coles and the head of Woolworths to talk about this very issue of security. Peter Dutton is very much focused on it as well, but let me tell you that the medical advice is that Australians do not need to stock up for weeks on end, they just need food for a couple of days because we are not going to run out of food, we’re not going to run out medicines, people need to respect each other. This is a team Australia moment, we need to look after one another, we don’t need to engage in panic buying.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Ok Treasurer thank you very much for your time this morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you.