NEIL BREEN:
Good morning to you, Treasurer.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning. Lovely to be with you, Neil. And in Townsville as well yesterday, which was great to stop there, too.
NEIL BREEN:
Okay, Townsville. Cairns, they're saying there's not just a recession up there, it could be a depression. Townsville, maybe not far behind it. What was your observation from the ground there?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, obviously, the COVID pandemic has hit Cairns as well as the country very hard, particularly because the international borders and the domestic borders have been closed at various times, and that's impacted on their tourism industry. What has been pleasing is that the number of people on JobKeeper in Cairns has steadily come down. There was 36,000 plus who were on JobKeeper last September. As of December, that number had come down to 16,000 and it's come down again over recent weeks and months. But there's still a long way to go. There are sectors and regions across this country that are doing it very tough. Here in Queensland, Neil, you went from having 8.8 per cent unemployment last July, to having 7 per cent unemployment today. We know that the Federal Government has done the vast bulk of the heavy lifting in providing the economic support into Queensland. We’ve supported Queensland families and businesses to the tune of more than $28 billion, has already been delivered in just the last 12 months. This compares to the state government, which has just promised $8.8 billion over the next four and a half years. So there's a vast difference between what we've delivered and what others have promised.
NEIL BREEN:
JobKeeper ends on March 28. We know that, the Federal Government's been clear and you've been clear. But I've been following headlines across Sky News yesterday and in the papers today that there's talk that you may be delivering interest free or very low interest loans for businesses that have needed JobKeeper, maybe direct cash grants for some businesses in the tourism sector, particularly mum and dad businesses and aviation incentives for airline companies provided on the routes they fly and the seats they have. Are we looking at those things maybe by the end of this week?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We'll have something to say about those initiatives in coming days, the Prime Minister and I and the other relevant Ministers. Our policies, Neil, have never been set and forget. We've always continued to evaluate what's happening in the labour market and what's happening across the broader economy. That's why you saw so many substantial measures announced in last year's Budget on top of the JobKeeper payments and the cash flow boost and the $750 payments to pensioners and carers and veterans and others on income support. We've constantly looked at ways to strengthen the economy. What was particularly pleasing in the economic data that came out last week was that Australia has for the first time since records began back in 1959, seen two consecutive quarters of economic growth of more than 3 per cent. It's the private sector that is helping to drive this recovery. It's the families listening to your show this morning, who are starting to get out and spend at the retail shops or to go to a cafe or to go to a restaurant or take a local holiday because they're feeling more confident. It's the businesses who are deciding to buy new machinery and new equipment or hire a new apprentice and today, the Prime Minister is announcing a substantial new investment in apprenticeships as well. So it's never been set and forget, we're constantly evaluating and strengthening the policy toolkit available to us.
NEIL BREEN:
Yeah, the Prime Minister will be announcing that training and apprenticeship plan today. It's a $1.2 billion wage subsidy for businesses taking on apprentices, whereby the Federal Government effectively will be paying half the wages of apprentices. Is there a great concern about the lack of apprenticeships and traineeships being offered post pandemic?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We’ve seen a rapid take up since we announced this policy last year. We saw 100,000 new apprenticeships across 40,000 businesses in just five months. So what we've done is we've uncapped the programme, we've extended the programme, and this will bring to a total of more than $5 billion that has been committed by the Morrison Government in the last 12 months to supporting apprenticeships. That's tradies, whether a they’re a sparkie or whether they are a carpenter or a plumber, it's whether they're working in the retail sector or in the hospitality sector. As you say, a 50 per cent wage subsidy is a really big hand up from the Federal Government to those businesses who take on a new apprentice. I think it will be really important for our economic recovery that this policy is put in place and is taken up with gusto.
NEIL BREEN:
One thing that's troubling Queensland is the fractured relationship between the Queensland Government and the Federal Government. It's a bit like the palace verse Harry and Meaghan, no one seems to be getting along across all sorts of issues. When can we expect maybe the governments to get along and for the war to end or a ceasefire?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The first thing to say is that the National Cabinet does work well. Yes, there have been differences between premiers and differences between state and the Federal Government. But the fact that these leaders come together on a regular basis to talk about everything from the vaccine rollout to border closures, to economic support is a positive. In the weeks that the Prime Minister is not meeting with the leaders, I chair a meeting of the state treasurers, which includes the Queensland state treasurer and three of the treasurers are actually leaders as well, there’s the Chief Minister of the ACT and Northern Territory and the Premier of Tasmania, are also the treasurer in their own jurisdictions. So we are continuing to work cooperatively behind closed doors to strengthen the economic recovery. But what we will not do is take a lecture from the Queensland government about programmes like JobKeeper when that has helped underpin the economic recovery that we've seen, not just in Queensland, but across the country. It was always designed, Neil, to be a temporary programme. At $90 billion, it’s the most expensive programme that the Australian Government has ever undertaken. It's supported 3.6 million Australians. But yesterday, I was in Townsville meeting with a construction business that had graduated off JobKeeper. Last week I was in Tasmania, meeting with retail businesses that have graduated off JobKeeper. Right across the economy, jobs are coming back and that level of income support has been less required by certain businesses. So we've done the vast bulk of the heavy lifting, and the Queensland Government can be entitled to their own opinions, that they can't be entitled to their own facts.
NEIL BREEN:
At those meetings that you Chair of the treasurers from all over Australia, did the Queensland Government ever agree in those meetings to pay New South Wales the $30 million for the quarantine bill?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, that wasn't discussed in the meetings that I was in. But again, that's a State of Origin issue that's playing out between New South Wales and Queensland. But I've seen that Victoria said they'll be paying the quarantine bill and other states are paying the quarantine bill and let's face it, New South Wales has taken the vast bulk of people coming into this country through the quarantine process. So again, they deserve credit for that. The thing that has occurred in New South Wales is, despite them having those new cases, they haven't had a statewide lockdown that we've seen in other states. So they've actually very effectively managed those outbreaks when they've occurred. But I'm hopeful now, Neil, with the vaccine rolling out and we've heard some positive words from the Queensland Chief Medical Officer, that we will continue to see more people travelling interstate, here to Queensland. That will be a good thing because when I was speaking to Alan Joyce, the head of Qantas, he did point out to me that in the month of January alone, he cancelled 1,500 flights into Queensland because of those border closures. So that means flights into Maroochydore, flights into the Gold Coast, flights into Cairns, flights into Hamilton Island, all of which were cancelled, 200,000 passenger bookings nearly, because of those border closures. So if we can keep those borders open, then that will be good news for the people of Cairns, good news for the people of Townsville, good news for the people on the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast and, of course, here in Brisbane too.
NEIL BREEN:
Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. I know you’re off to address a breakfast. Thanks for fitting us in this morning on 4BC Breakfast and enjoy the rest of your Queensland trip.