NEIL MITCHELL:
On the line is the Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, good morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Nice to be with you, Neil.
NEIL MITCHELL:
You sure it is time to ease restrictions? We've got 17 new cases in Victoria overnight.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we've got to do it consistent with the medical advice, and that means having the right protocols and processes to deal with outbreaks when they occur, but at the same time we've seen a significant flattening of the curve here in Victoria and across Australia.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We've gone from having the number of daily cases increase by more than 20 per cent per day to well under 1 per cent.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So is the medical advice still it's okay to ease them a bit?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the medical advice is that there are 15 conditions precedent before they can consider easing that advice and that relates to everything from the tracing and testing regimes, the assessment of data, the take up of the app, as well as also the sourcing of medical equipment. And they are the issues that are being considered by National Cabinet.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So have those 15 conditions been met?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
11 of those have been met. The Prime Minister had announced after one of his recent press conferences, at one of his recent meetings at National Cabinet, and four of those conditions were going to be expedited and work on those conditions by the Government.
NEIL MITCHELL:
I was surprised by the amount of impact closing the schools has had because people can't go to work. What was it, about 300,000 people are not working because kids are at home?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Around 300,000 jobs.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yeah.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
And you have to understand that in other states, like South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, around 70 per cent of kids are now back in school. In Queensland and in New South Wales, there's a timeframe for bringing kids back to school. Obviously Daniel Andrews is working through those issues in Victoria, but it does have an impact on labour force participation, because over a million households have both parents working and children under the age of 15, so when they have to work from home, when the kids have to be educated at home, one of the parents tends to pull out of the workforce.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So Victoria should re-open schools in your view?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look, again, this is a well-worn debate. It is a matter for the state Premier in relation to into government schools an obviously, he's consulting with his chief medical officer on that.
NEIL MITCHELL:
This is what confuses us, we've got contradictory advice; the Federal Government and the Federal Health Adviser says this, in Victoria they say something else.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, they do work I think, pretty cooperatively across jurisdictional lines when as part of the AHPPC, where the Chief Medical Officer for the Commonwealth, as well as the State Medical Officers are working together.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay. When the restrictions are eased, do you want people to get out and about and start spending money, is that the aim?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, certainly within the context of the easing of those restrictions, and that's a really important point, Neil, because businesses have to have the confidence to re-open, because if you're a small business, let's say a cafe or a restaurant, you're going to eat into your working capital to re stock your cafe and the fridge and everything else, so you need to have confidence that you're not going to have to close down very quickly again. At the same time, consumers need to have confidence that when they go to a shop or they go to a shopping centre that they can actually go about their activities and not feel like they're going to be threatened by contracting the coronavirus. So that's why taking the health advice is so important.
NEIL MITCHELL:
I think the people have already decided. There was a long list of businesses re-opening; Kathmandu, Cotton On, Country Road, Accent Shoes, Apple stores. They've already decided, haven't they, regardless? Do you approve of that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, they've got to adhere to the medical advice.
NEIL MITCHELL:
But do they have to really? What's their obligation to do that? They should, I agree, but do they have to legally?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as I understand it, that's been set down by the various state governments.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
And there are penalties for not adhering to it. But Neil, I saw in my own electorate, you know on Burke Rd, Camberwell, over the weekend and in other parts of my electorate, there are a lot of more cars on the road, a lot more people on the streets and I think there's a sense that if people can get back to work sooner than later then that would be a good outcome.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yeah, but that's before anything has been eased. We're still under stage 3 restrictions. There are more cars there, there more people around, the shopping centres are full. People are just ignoring the restrictions.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, people are I think, signalling they've got greater confidence in the health situation but again we've got to follow the medical advice and hopefully out of Friday's meeting there's some progress.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay, JobKeeper. I'm getting calls from many and thousands of workers have suddenly lost it - lost their JobKeeper payments because strictly they're owned by foreign companies. Now, is this a deliberate and particularly Emirates and out at the airports. There's several thousand, 3,000 out there. Is that a deliberate decision or a glitch?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
No, it's a deliberate decision that wholly owned companies by foreign governments, that is, it is not a foreign owned company per se, it is where a foreign government wholly owns a business here in Australia that we as the Australian taxpayer or the Australian government, we're not going to subsidise those businesses in the way that we would be supporting other businesses. Now, it is consistent with our approach to for example, local government related services or state government provided services. JobKeeper does not extend to supporting those staff. What we are focusing on is staff that are not employed by governments.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yeah, but is that fair? I mean they're paying tax in this country, they're trying to survive in this country and people have suddenly lost their payment. I've had dozens of people contact me, "What do I do? How do I pay the bills? How do I survive?"
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, foreign governments have got deep pockets and…
NEIL MITCHELL:
So you're telling the Emirates that they should be paying?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I'm saying the owner of those particular businesses should be digging into their pockets, keeping their staff on and supporting them. I mean, at $130 billion Neil, you can understand that this program is bigger in scale and scope than anything this country has seen previously. If you're part time workers, full time workers, longer term casuals, sole traders, or people who work for the not for profit sector, you're coming under this program, and already nearly 5 million workers are going to be covered by it. That's an enormous number of people. And we have to draw the line somewhere. And we made a decision that we wouldn't support the businesses of other governments.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Did you change the rules though, because these people were initially paid?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we made that very clear throughout.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Well, they were paid.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, that was a decision not by the government to pay them. That was a decision by their business, and obviously the first payments from the JobKeeper program start this Wednesday.
NEIL MITCHELL:
A lot to talk about by the way, on the JobKeeper issue, there's reports you've needed to increase security. You've been receiving threats about that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look, I'm not going to go into the detail of that, but it is fair to say that the Federal Police do their own assessments and any other agencies, and they make recommendations to it, to the Government, and to me personally and I follow that advice.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Are you willing to say whether your security has been stepped up?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, it certainly has, and I think that's obvious to anyone who comes into contact. And this story only came about because I spoke at the National Press Club yesterday and it was pretty obvious with people walking around me with various things in their ears.
NEIL MITCHELL:
You're suggesting it's a good thing if the Victorian Government looks at removing stamp duty. What taxes are you going to remove?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I think it is encouraging that Tim Pallas, who I've got a good working relationship with and Dominic Perrottet, his counterpart in New South Wales, are looking at this issue because the Productivity Commission said that stamp duty increases the prices of houses and also makes it less likely for people to move to other locations even if that's something that they want to, because it is effectively a transaction tax.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So what will you do? What tax are you going to take?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we've been cutting plenty of taxes, Neil.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Oh, yeah.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
You and I have discussed…
NEIL MITCHELL:
Bracket creep that is. You've given us back some bracket creep. What about dropping some taxes?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Hang on. $300 billion of tax cuts is no…
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yeah, which you'll get back in a couple of years. What about dropping some taxes?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Jeez, you're confident. You're confident. Also we've cut taxes for small and medium sized businesses. We’ve provided an instant asset write off in the first tranche…
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I mean, there's lots of things we’re doing. But when it comes to state governments and their state and their state tax system, they've got to make their own decisions and obviously they've got to work out ways to fund that.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Thanks for your time. You're a Carlton supporter and although you sacked Mick Malthouse, I know you had a bit of respect for him, he says the AFL should pull out of China. What do you think?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That's a decision for the AFL, but more broadly I think engaging with China is important. I mean, obviously you know, we’ve had some choppy waters as of late. But the relationship with China is very important to this country. We have more than $200 billion of two way trade with that country. One in five Australian jobs are related to trade. And China is our largest trading partner. So, you know, long may that relationship, when it comes to the economic partnership, long may that continue.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Thank you very much for your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you.