NEIL MITCHELL:
On the line, federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. Good morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, Neil. Good morning, listeners.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Can you offer any fresh assistance to businesses in Victoria?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we’ve already supported $42 billion worth of financial assistance that’s been injected into the Victorian economy alone. That’s not just the JobKeeper program but also the JobSeeker coronavirus supplement, the cash flow boost, the $750 payments, as well as other supports. Now that dwarfs what is being put to the table by state governments around the country. We’ll continue to put in place measures like the JobMaker hiring credit to get young people who are unemployed into work. The tax cuts are putting more than a billion dollars, Neil, into the pockets of Australian families every month. So there’s a lot of other support…
NEIL MITCHELL:
I understand all that, that’s why I used the word “fresh.” Because we’re in the middle of this five-day lockdown. Small businesses are telling me it’s an absolute crisis for them. I accept that you’ve put in a hell of a lot of money and still are putting in money and doing a lot of things. But given we’ve gone into another five-day lockdown, is there any fresh assistance possible federally?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We’re not looking at making any extra provisions to Victoria. We’ve already substantially provided that support. JobKeeper does go to the end of March. But you’re right, the impact of this lockdown on local Victorian businesses is extreme. I was speaking to one restaurateur yesterday who lost $50,000 worth of food. He had 120 dozen oysters that he couldn’t donate because there was such short notice. He just had to throw them away. Tens of thousands of dollars spent on wages in the preceding week doing all the cooking and preparing for what was expected to be a bumper weekend with Valentine’s Day and the Chinese New Year. So the impact on Victorian businesses is huge.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So it’s a state government role to pick that up, deal with it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look, Tim Pallas and I talk regularly. We have a very constructive relationship as the state Treasurer. I’ll leave that to him and to the Premier. They know how significant the financial support from the Morrison Government has been. They’ve also made announcements, by the way, and we welcome those contributions. But we’d also welcome any further support they would provide.
NEIL MITCHELL:
If we continue to go in and out of lockdown like this until October – it’s going to be October before the vaccine kicks in really, no matter how quickly you get it out – if we continue to go in and out of lockdown, can you continue JobKeeper in Victoria?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We’re not planning on continuing JobKeeper beyond March. As you said in your introduction, the most recent JobKeeper numbers are very encouraging in that 2.1 million Australians have come off JobKeeper in the December quarter compared to the previous period, and about 520,000 businesses have graduated off JobKeeper. You’ve got a 70 per cent fall in WA on the number of people on JobKeeper, a 64 per cent fall in Queensland, a 60 per cent fall in New South Wales. Unfortunately, Victoria is a bit of the outlier in that the fall has only been 44 per cent because Victoria was the state with the second wave and the continuous lockdown. Now, that is where our other support measures will continue to help. As well as that, the Victorian government’s measures will continue to help.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Can you tell me, I read there’s the possibility that still more companies who made big profits returning the money, the assistance they were given. I know Nick Scali made a decision to return it after some pressure. Are there more planning to give back money?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I’m sure there will be. We would welcome that and encourage them to do so. But it’s important that your listeners understand that when the program was set up those businesses that applied for JobKeeper were on the basis that they anticipated their turnover to be down by between 30 and 50 per cent depending on the size of that business. They received the JobKeeper payments for those months, that first half of the program. Then in the December quarter where we just had the most recent numbers you had to show an actual reduction in turnover. That’s why as the restrictions have eased and people have come back to work, turnovers have improved, that there are less people on that JobKeeper payment. So, you would be asking us to retrospectively change the law and change the conditions and the basis by which those companies entered the scheme to force them to pay that back, and we’re not about to do that.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So we’re depending on their good sense and community spirit. Could we just name and list them? So these buggers have made heaps of money and they’re still taking ours.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, actually ASIC are requiring publicly listed companies to say how much money they’ve received from payments like JobKeeper. So, ASIC have put out guidance to that effect, Neil. The other businesses, they’re going to be private businesses, a lot of them. Turnover is commercially sensitive and related to those issues. So I know the Labor Party wants me to name and shame, but that’s not how we do business.
NEIL MITCHELL:
This idea with a sort of single system for the dole, which looks good – rather than all the bits and pieces, you have a single system – is that going to save you money or cost you money?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, I’m not going to speculate on speculation. Obviously you’re referring to the media reports today.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yep.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
What we will do is announce what the rate for JobSeeker will be going forward before the end of March, which is when that elevated rate ends.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Any estimate on what this lockdown will cost Victoria? With your experience, you’d have a fair idea, wouldn’t you?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, it’s a moving, fluid situation. The impact on people in the hospitality industry has been immense. Obviously businesses are having a lot of people work from home, which was interrupting the fact that they were coming back into the workplace. I feel particularly for those CBD businesses that have been hit so hard.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Victoria has mucked it up, again, hasn’t it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I think Victoria has improved its contact testing and tracing since the second wave. Alan Finkel, the former Chief Scientist, has made that very clear. But when it comes to the gold standard, no surprise to you, New South Wales has been it because they haven’t gone into a full state lockdown even though they’ve had a cluster of cases in the Northern Beaches and elsewhere. I think the trick here is to have contact testing and tracing that moves sufficiently quickly that you can target those new clusters and you can get on top of it early. This new strain is more infectious, there’s no doubt about that. But I’m with every other Victorian right now, I just want our health professionals and of course, the state government to get on top of it as quickly as possible, for our kids to go back to school, for our businesses to reopen, and for families to get about their normal lives in a COVID-safe way.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay. Are you aware there are talks with Avalon to see if we could set up a quarantine facility there?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Sorry, repeat that.
NEIL MITCHELL:
There are talks between the Fox family and the government about setting up a quarantine facility at Avalon airport.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I haven’t been part of any of those discussions.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay. Now, I understand if you’re not aware of this, but there’s a report just appearing, a Liberal Party staffer has claimed she was raped at Parliament House in one of the minister’s offices.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I’ve seen that report. I haven’t been aware of the details of that case. So I wouldn’t want to add to that without knowing more.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Thank you very much for your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Always good.