NEIL BREEN:
Today’s the final sitting day for the year for federal parliament. What a year it’s been. The Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, he was in an important meeting earlier, but he’s on the line now. How are you, Treasurer?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good to be with you, Neil, and with your listeners as we approach Christmas. We all can’t wait.
NEIL BREEN:
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Geez, you’d be keen on Christmas.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Give me a beach and a towel and I’ll close my eyes. You know…
NEIL BREEN:
Okay. On December 16, though, on December 16 you’ll give us the mid‑year fiscal outlook. And yesterday GDP was down 1.9 per cent for the September quarter. But Treasury estimates think we’ll be up 1.5 per cent in the December quarter. Do Australians have anything to worry about? That number yesterday wasn’t good, thanks to Sydney and Melbourne lockdowns.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, there’s no surprise to see the economy contract, as you say, by 1.9 per cent in the September quarter. But it’s still 3.9 per cent up for the year. We had 13 million Australians who were in lockdown across New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT. But the news since those lockdowns has been a lot more positive about the economy. 350,000 jobs, Neil, have come back since the start of September. We’ve seen strong retail sales, more than $5 billion being spent in the Black Friday sales last week. And we’ve also seen investment intentions for the non‑mining sector up to a record level with an expected $100 billion‑plus being spent over the year. So I think Australia’s economy is in a strong position going into 2022. Overnight the OECD upgraded their growth forecasts for Australia from 3.3 to 4.1 per cent. The Reserve Bank has upgraded their growth forecasts for Australia next year. And our economic recovery has been stronger since the start of the pandemic than all but two major advanced economies – stronger than Germany, stronger than Italy, stronger than Japan, stronger than Canada, stronger than the United Kingdom. So I think your listeners can go to Christmas with some confidence, with some optimism and look forward to next year.
NEIL BREEN:
Yeah, next year, obviously there’ll be a federal election campaign from the first day we all come back from summer holidays. It will be on for young and old. And the Coalition will be doing it without Christian Porter, the former Attorney‑General, who won’t contest his seat. But the shock news is Greg Hunt, the Health Minister, looks like that he’ll be standing down from parliament. I know he’s a good friend of yourself, Josh Frydenberg, you’ll miss him.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Neil, he is my best mate in the parliament. I was the best man at his wedding. We’re the godfathers to our respective children, and he’s been a great friend and colleague during his time in parliament and my time in parliament, but also as we’ve worked very closely together to steer Australia through this pandemic. He can be very proud of his contribution. Australia now is one of the highest vaccinated countries in the world with one of the lowest mortality rates anywhere in the world. And Greg has not only been a key player in our health recovery through this pandemic but also he’s been a champion for medical research, he has promoted mental health support and services and he’s listed more drugs than ever before on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to give people access to low‑cost but highly important and life‑changing, live‑saving medicines. So Greg has been an outstanding Health Minister and a great friend and colleague.
NEIL BREEN:
I have to say that amongst our listeners Greg Hunt is wildly popular.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That’s good news.
NEIL BREEN:
It’s in particular, for what he’s done on the PBS. The amount of emails I’ve had from listeners about that and thankful for what he did, that work with the PBS was a significant piece of work, Josh Frydenberg.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, unlike our political opponents who didn’t list all the drugs recommended on the PBS, we have. And some of those drugs would otherwise be 30 or $40,000 a pop. And you can go and get them for $40 a script. And that is a real difference to people’s hip pockets but also to their medical and health prospects. So I know firsthand what an amazing job he’s done in helping get drugs listed on the PBS. And every budget, as you know, we announce more drugs being listed on the PBS. And this is one of the benefits of having a strong economy. If you didn’t have a strong economy you wouldn’t be able to list all these expensive drugs on the PBS and make them more widely available. So that’s why we need a strong economy, so we can afford our defence investments, so that we can afford infrastructure investments, so that we can provide tax relief, and that we can list the drugs on the PBS and provide other health supports and education supports.
NEIL BREEN:
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, we look forward to seeing you in Queensland post December 17. We’ll see a lot of you, and you’re welcome in the 4BC studios in the new year. Thanks for all your help.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
All the best to you and to your listeners. Thanks, Neil.