NATALIE BARR:
The rollout for 5 to 11-year-olds is planned to begin on January the 11th. For more I’m joined by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Good morning to you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning.
NATALIE BARR:
Treasurer, these comments about the vaccines are pretty dangerous. They may hinder the rollout when parents get that into their minds. How is the government going to control these politicians?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, they’re certainly not the views of the medical experts. As you know, we’ve passed through one hurdle with the TGA with respect to providing these vaccines to that younger cohort of 5 to 11s. I think this is a positive development. We’re following what has happened in the United States with the rollout of the vaccines to younger kids. And it will provide another line of defence, Nat, against the virus. We know how effective the vaccine has been already. We’ve seen the number of daily cases come down in the COVID states and the number of hospitalisations come down, and we’ve seen our freedoms come back. That’s a very positive sign. And we also want, of course, our kids to stay in the classroom as much as possible. And one way to do that is to roll out the vaccine to younger kids early next year.
NATALIE BARR:
Speaking of going rogue, Treasurer, Nationals MP George Christensen has done an interview with the far-right US conspiracy theorists. I’m sure you know about it. He is, amongst other things, saying our quarantine facilities are like concentration camps. What is your view on that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, any analogy between the Holocaust and lockdowns, quarantine, mandatory vaccinations or any of the aspects of the response to COVID-19 are not just inaccurate, are false, but they’re also incredibly insensitive and lack any sense of historical perspective. I rang George yesterday. I spoke to him and he did apologise to me. And I reminded him about the importance, obviously, of our comments in these particular areas. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s a colleague of mine or, you know, protestors on the streets of Victoria against Daniel Andrews. We all have a collective responsibility and duty to speak out about those very false analogies.
NATALIE BARR:
On to something else. Pressure is building on us, on Australia, to join the US in a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Beijing Olympics. There’s word this morning that we won’t be sending officials and politicians to the Beijing Olympics. Can you confirm that? And will we go further?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, obviously I’ll leave formal decisions and formal announcements in that area to the Prime Minister. But we have been noting the US response. We have had some initial discussions internally and obviously we’re working those issues through. And we’ll have more to say about it in due course.
NATALIE BARR:
Okay. Later today you’re going to be announcing the biggest reforms to Australia’s payment systems in 25 years. What are you going to be doing to bring us into the digital age?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Nat, this is a very big deal. There is a digital revolution occurring in our payments system. And, you know, gone are the days of cheques, cash is in decline, and now we’ve got Buy Now Pay Later, digital wallets, digital currencies that are fast becoming the new norm. And our regulatory system has not stayed up to date with those digital changes. Indeed, it hasn’t changed very much for the last 25 years even though every single day in Australia there’s around 55 million cashless transactions worth about $650 billion and more than 800,000 Australians have owned a form of cryptocurrency and there are 5 million-plus Buy Now Pay Later accounts. So what we’re doing is we’re modernising the payments system. We’re broadening out the definition of the services and the products that can be regulated. We’re taking this area out of the shadows and bringing it into a considered regulatory framework, which is world leading. We’re obviously focusing on innovation, too, and competition and transparency around fees to get better outcomes for consumers. And we want those businesses that are buying and selling cryptocurrencies to be properly licensed, and that can provide greater certainty and security to those people who are transacting in that area. And we’re also going to be working with the Reserve Bank to look into the feasibility of introducing a central bank digital currency, which would be a world-leading initiative as well.
NATALIE BARR:
Okay. Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it. Josh Frydenberg.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to be with you Nat.