NEIL BREEN:
Good morning, Treasurer.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning.
NEIL BREEN:
There was good news yesterday, the economy, but, you know, there’s some rocky roads ahead.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look, these are a solid set of numbers. The economy grew in the June quarter 0.7 per cent, but 9.6 per cent through the year. It was better than what the market was expecting, but importantly, it was households who were spending out to restaurants, cafes, transport and tourism. It was also housing investment; particularly off the back of HomeBuilder, we’ve seen a strong pipeline of construction activity. And, of course, as well business investment, machinery and equipment purchases have been up by more than 20 per cent since last October’s budget, which is the fastest rate of growth in that category for nearly 20 years. So, I think we can be optimistic. We can be hopeful. But as you said, Neil, in your introduction, what is fundamental is that the economy opens up in accordance with the plan, agreed at National Cabinet, laid out by the Doherty Institute. And yesterday we also saw 80 of Australia’s biggest companies go very public in the need for Australia to stick to that plan.
NEIL BREEN:
Yeah. Well, we talked about that extensively on the show yesterday, 80 of those companies. One of the problems has been, Josh Frydenberg, is that the states are just at each other’s throats; you know, Victoria’s having a crack at New South Wales yesterday. I don’t say the bloke’s in Perth’s name, because he just doesn’t deserve to be spoken about. He just wants to be at war with everybody. And our Premier yesterday came up with a new one. She came up with and said, “I can’t open up because of the kids. And no‑one’s given me any modelling.” Her own website, the Queensland Health website, shows kids will be fine, but every day there’s a new excuse by someone to say “stuff you” to the rest of the country.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, look, as a dad and like all those mums and dads listening to your story this morning, or grandparents, we care deeply about our kids.
NEIL BREEN:
Of course, we do.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Kids are the most important thing in our lives, but what’s really important is that we look at the medical evidence. And Dr. Sarah McNabb who’s the Director of General Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne has looked at 170 children who were infected with the virus over the course of last year, and she said in her words terrible illness in adults and particularly in the elderly, but in children we’ve seen very mild illnesses and the vast majority of children with coronavirus, including Delta, are doing really well. I think that’s what we’ve got to focus on, that the severity of the illness in children is not what it is in older adults. The transmissibility of the virus in children is not what it is within the older cohorts. It’s important that we provide people with hope that the lockdowns can end, that the strict border restrictions can end, and that so many businesses in Queensland, and particularly in the tourism sector, are able to get their customers back.
NEIL BREEN:
Christmas, it has to be a target for the whole nation. We have to work together. Like, Australians can’t be stripped of Christmas because of ideological differences over whatever.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Christmas has definitely got to be one where Australians can come back together and we can move more freely within our own country and we can attend the funerals and the weddings of our loved ones, that businesses can have been reopened by then and that, importantly, kids can be back in the classroom in those weeks leading up to the end of the year, because it is so important that kids are meeting with their teachers and with their fellow students and having that level of social interaction. What Queenslanders have to understand is that it is really important to get vaccinated because you can’t eliminate COVID. We saw an admission in Victoria yesterday that you can’t eliminate the Delta variant. No country has done so. Whether it’s in a week or whether it’s in a month, at some point you’re going to have more cases in Queensland, and the only way out to live in a COVID‑safe way is to get that vaccination rate up. So, I implore all your listeners who are yet to get vaccinated, please go out and do so. It’s really important.
NEIL BREEN:
That’s right. I got AstraZeneca. Everyone knows it. Just go and do it. You spoke previously on this show about possible consequences for states who don’t play ball with the plan. Are consequences still on the table?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Certainly our economic support can’t continue at the scale that it has been indefinitely, and I’ve made it very clear that there should be no expectation on behalf of Premiers and Chief Ministers that that economic support in the way that we’ve provided it will continue once you reach those targets of 70 to 80 per cent. According to the Doherty modelling, when you get to those vaccination rates, those stringent lockdowns will be unlikely. There may be some health restrictions, mask wearing, density limits, social distancing. That would be understandable. But not the stringent lockdowns which cost the economy so much. But I do know there are many businesses in Queensland who are doing it tough right now because New South Wales and Victoria are in lockdown and because the borders have been closed, and it’s really important that we stick to that plan.
NEIL BREEN:
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, thanks for your time on 4BC Breakfast.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Always a pleasure. Thank you.