MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The Treasurer Josh Frydenberg joins us from Canberra. Good morning to you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to be with you, Michael.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Want to talk about this plan to make COVID tests tax deductible in a moment. But, firstly, to our lead story: what do you make about this tweet from former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Bob Carr was a waste of space as foreign minister. He was described by his own colleagues as a narcissist and self‑indulgent. He’s now suffering from a bad bout of relevance deprivation syndrome. He’s put out this tweet, Peter Dutton has utterly rejected it and called for it be to deleted. Our focus is on creating more jobs. Our focus is on helping Australia come back from this big economic shock that we’ve faced during this pandemic. That’s what my focus is on as Treasurer. That’s what the government’s focus is on – not some baseless tweet from a former minister.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
And, as you say, Peter Dutton has described it as baseless. But, listen on face value, I’m guessing Bob Carr wouldn’t tweet this, because it is highly defamatory, right? So – and he says it’s based on good sources.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I’m not about to second guess his sources other than to say he wouldn’t know very much, I think, about the internal operations of the Liberal Party. You know, I think we’re wasting time talking about it because he hasn’t put up any evidence to back up his acquisition. What we are focusing on today in a speech to the Australian Industry Group is this massive movement of people into new jobs and, as a result, higher wages. What I’m focusing on is an unemployment rate potentially with a 3 in front of it for the first time since 1974. And 1.7 million more Australians in work today, including 1 million more women, compared to when we came to government.
You see, the Labor Party said the biggest single test of the Morrison’s government management of the pandemic will be what happens to the unemployment rate. It’s 4.2 per cent today, Michael, compared to 5.7 per cent when Labor was last in office. So that’s an inconvenient truth for them. We’re focusing on jobs; they are focusing on text messages.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Yeah, but, okay, let’s talk text messages, and I do want to talk about the economy and those COVID tests, tax deductibility in a moment.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I’m sure you do.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
And I will. I pledge I will. But let’s talk about your side.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
You pledge, okay.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Putting Bob Carr to one side, you’ve got a Deputy Prime Minister, a former Prime Minister, the French President all calling Scott Morrison a liar, Gladys Berejiklian describing him as a horrible, horrible person, and this unnamed Liberal cabinet minister describing the Prime Minister as both a fraud and a complete psycho. Can you understand that voters would now be asking their own questions about the Prime Minister’s character based on all of that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I can tell you what I’ve seen firsthand as the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, as the nation’s Treasurer during this pandemic – and that’s a Prime Minister who’s working hard every day to ensure that the vaccination program is – and the booster programs are rolled out so that we’re now one of the highest big issues that we’re facing in the workforce and the supply chains being tackled, and that’s why in aged care, for example, 78,000 shifts have now been handled by a surge workforce that we’ve helped put in place with the private health care sector; and a Prime Minister who’s helping to create jobs, as I say, with an unemployment rate at a 13‑year low, potentially going even lower.
That’s what I’ve seen firsthand with the Prime Minister – someone’s who’s working hard every day. Sure, it’s not been easy and, sure, not everyone, you know, has probably been happy with each and every decision. But as a result of collective decisions that we’ve taken as a government we have one of highest vaccinations rates in the world, one of the lowest mortality rates in the world and certainly one of the strongest economic recoveries anywhere in the world.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Do you have full confidence in Scott Morrison?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I do.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
If the leadership came up, would you contest it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The fact is – and I said this on your program just last week – Scott Morrison will be the first Prime Minister since John Howard to go a full term to the Australian people. And we’ve got a job to do. We’ve got a job to do to ensure this economic recovery and its momentum continues. We’ve got a job to do to ensure Australians stay safe from COVID. But there is some good news out there. We’ve started to see the number of cases, ICU admissions as well as people on ventilators come down. That’s what the health experts were telling us. The kids are back at school. Australia’s fared better than nearly any other country on earth during this very, very challenging time.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay. Let’s talk about those COVID tests. If you do use them for work, they’ll be tax deductible. How will that work in practice?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, this starts for this financial year that we’re in. So if an individual uses a COVID test for work‑related purposes – so, for example, a retail worker goes and gets tested before they turn up at work – then that will be tax deductible for them. We’re also ensuring that for businesses that provide tests to their staff that they're exempt from fringe benefits tax. And that’s something the business community has been calling for as well. So both initiatives, I think, are important ones. Both will help clarify the tax treatment.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Okay. Now you talked about the aged care sector and the surge workforce and all of that. Do you honestly believe, Josh Frydenberg, that aged care workers, given that they are the heroes – the Prime Minister repeatedly and quite rightly describes them as hero’s – do you honestly believe they are only worth $22 an hour?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as you know, we’ve just announced two bonus payments of up to $800 –
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Yeah, that’s bonus payments; I’m talking about the ongoing wage. Do you honestly believe aged care workers, doing such an important job at grave danger to themselves, are worth on $22 hour?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as you know, with regards to wage determinations, that’s set by an independent Fair Work Commission. That hearing is, you know, currently working its way through and we’ll respect the decision of the Fair Work Commission.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
You could make a submission on that, though. You could make a submission.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as you know, governments have been making submissions about the overall economic situation. With respect to individual cases both sides of politics historically have not been making such submissions. What we are focused on here is allowing the independent Fair Work Commission to make its own determination.
But I agree with you entirely – the aged care workforce have been, you know, remarkable people through this whole pandemic dealing with the most vulnerable cohort in our community. That’s why we continue to support them. That’s why in the budget last year, Michael, I announced $17.7 billion of additional spending, including spending for 33,000 new training places for carers, extra respite services for carers, an extra payment of $10 a day for residents so that residential care providers can be on a more sustainable footing, and obviously retention bonuses and payments for nurses as well. That was all in a record spending package for aged care that I announced in last year’s budget.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, busy morning, appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for joining us.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Always a pleasure. Thank you.