NATALIE BARR:
Good morning to you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, Nat. Good morning, Matt.
NATALIE BARR:
Overnight Facebook is replacing all the charity sites, the emergency service sites that were taken off yesterday. News is still black banned, they are digging in. What are you going to do?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
This was never meant to be easy, otherwise other countries would have moved a long time ago. We’re trying to succeed here in Australia where others have failed. What we’re trying to do is create a level playing field and to protect public interest journalism with this world-leading media bargaining code. Now, as you know, earlier this week, major news organisations like Seven West, have entered into agreements with Google to see their content paid for. That’s a really positive development that wouldn’t have occurred without this bargaining code being on the table. With Facebook, I’ve had a number of constructive discussions with Mark Zuckerberg, he contacted me last night about having another discussion today. So, that will hopefully occur and we will work through the remaining issues. But Australia’s resolve remains very strong, very firm. This is in the national interest. It has been a part of a very long process over the last couple of years. There has been continuous negotiations between the Government and the parties, with the regulators as well, the ACCC, and we are determined to see this legislation become law.
MATT DORAN:
Treasurer, fascinated to know how that call played out last night with Mark Zuckerberg. So he contacted you and I imagine you expressed your great frustration on behalf of all the Australian charities and vital services that have been cut off by this. I mean, exactly what did you two talk about?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We spoke yesterday morning and I expressed my deep disappointment as to what Facebook had done. You’ve heard from the Government, from the Prime Minister down, about our resolve here and our determination to proceed. But at the same time, we view those actions yesterday as unnecessary, as heavy-handed, as wrong and as damaging the reputation of Facebook here in Australia. To restrict access to the New South Wales Fire and Rescue or to restrict access to the Royal Children’s Hospital or other important sites, is very problematic and it was a heavy-handed tactic. Now, he and I will speak again this morning and we’ll see if we can work through some of the issues, but our commitment remains very firmly to implement the code and we’ll see if Facebook remains at the table.
NATALIE BARR:
What if they don’t?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
If they don’t and the code becomes law and I proceed to designate Facebook as a service to which the code applies, then they could be left going into arbitration. Again, let’s firstly have these discussions today then let’s pass the law through the Parliament and see where we go. I reiterate, Nat, this is a world-first. Australia is leading the world with this bargaining code and the world’s eyes are very much on us.
MATT DORAN:
You can see why it would set the precedent for the payments to go to the other countries as well. Treasurer, can I ask you another issue; the Australian reporting today that the Government could legislate an increase to JobSeeker, this is as soon as next week, as targeted packages for industries that are currently reliant on JobKeeper. Will that be signed off on today by Cabinet’s Budget Committee?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I am not going to go into details of the Expenditure Review Committee, other than to say that the intention is for JobKeeper to end in March. It was always a temporary program, it was always designed to come to an end as the economy strengthened. Yesterday we saw jobs numbers for the month of January which saw 29,000 full-time jobs being created, we saw the unemployment rate falling from 6.6 per cent to 6.4 per cent, beating market expectations. We saw the underemployment rate get to its lowest level since 2014. So the fact that the virus is being brought under control and that Federal Government support is at an unprecedented level is helping to drive a very strong recovery in our jobs market and that is a good thing.
NATALIE BARR:
Lastly, there is an explosive text message sent by a Liberal staffer to Brittany Higgins. It has surfaced today. It’s on the front page of the Australian newspaper. Here it is. It suggests the Prime Minister’s Office was made aware of her 2019 rape allegations shortly after the incident, not last week as he has been telling Parliament this week. Why hasn’t the Government been more transparent about this?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The Prime Minister has. He’s given a statement to the House and he has set out a process to lead to cultural change within Parliament House; a number of steps to do that, including the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet undertaking a review, there is going to be an independent review into the culture in Parliament House right across party political lines. We’ve also got one of our own colleagues, Celia Hammond, who has been the Vice Chancellor of the University of Notre Dame and has had experience in dealing with these sort of important issues at an institutional level, and she is going to also be working with the colleagues.
NATALIE BARR:
That’s great. But that text message says exactly the opposite of what our Prime Minister has told Parliament this week.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
He made a statement to Parliament and I’m not aware of any difference to that statement.
NATALIE BARR:
That text says the opposite. It says he knew two weeks after the rape allegation. His office knew.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Firstly, it doesn’t say he knew.
NATALIE BARR:
It says his office knew.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I am sure there will be differing interpretations of that message. What I will say is that he gave a statement to the Parliament and he has focused on the way forward for the Parliament and a way to improve the culture. I think that’s very important.
NATALIE BARR:
Okay, we thank you very much for your time this morning, Treasurer.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
My pleasure. Thank you.