PETER STEFANOVIC:
Treasurer good to see you. Thanks for your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning Pete.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So after Queensland shut out the rest of the country for so long now it’s asking for federal help, did that ruffle your feathers at all?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well when you look at the facts they tell a very powerful story about the unprecedented economic support that the Morrison Government has provided to Queensland. We have delivered Pete, $27.9 billion of economic support to Queenslanders. This compares to Annastacia Palaszczuk committing $8.8 billion. So we have delivered more than three times what the Queensland Government has committed to in terms of economic support for Queenslanders. We’ve seen one and a half million Queenslanders receive the $750 payments from the Federal Government. 650,000 Queenslanders have been receiving the JobKeeper payment. More than 650,000 Queenslanders receiving the Coronavirus Supplement and 100,000 plus businesses in Queensland receiving the Cash Flow Boost. This is money that the Morrison Government has provided to Queenslanders. So we’d welcome further announcements by the Palaszczuk Government, indeed from all state governments to reach into their pockets and provide the support that is necessary as part of Australia’s economic recovery. But certainly, the Morrison Government has been doing the bulk of the heavy lifting and will continue to support Queenslanders with substantial economic measures.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay well on that, so JobKeeper, that ends at the end of March. As you know the tourism sector particularly in far North Queensland has been absolutely decimated. So what are you going to do about that beyond March? What extra help can be provided?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well JobKeeper has only been one, albeit the single largest one, of many economic measures that the Government has rolled out and will continue to roll out. So for example in last year’s Budget, I announced $350 million of support for regional tourism across Australia. We announced a package for travel agents worth more than $100 million. We have the tax cuts, which are providing more than a billion dollars a month into the pockets of Australian families. Money that can be spent helping to create jobs. We’ve also put into place the JobMaker Hiring Credit to get young people who are out of work, into work. We’ve brought forward billions of dollars of infrastructure investments. We’ve provided a 50 per cent wage subsidy to help businesses take on new apprentices, more than 300,000 new training places, and of course, very substantial investment incentives for businesses to do a refit, or to buy some new machinery. All of which will create economic activity in Queensland across all industries, and we know that the border restrictions have made it pretty tough for the tourism sector. That’s why we welcome recent news from Queensland that they will be loosening those border restrictions and opening up to the rest of the country.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay but will more come, specifically for the tourism sector beyond March? Are you planning on it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We will continue to monitor the situation. We do recognise that the tourism sector has been hit particularly hard. But we also point out how much substantial support we have already provided, not just to the tourism sector, but to the economy more broadly. You will remember Pete that the Government released figures very recently that show that there’s an additional $200 billion on family balance sheets and business balance sheets that was not there this time last year. That’s money that’s been saved. That’s money that’s been delivered by the Federal Government. That money will help be spent across the economy, helping to create jobs, and when it comes to tourism, more than seventy cents in the dollar, in the tourism dollar, is spent domestically as a result of domestic tourism and that’s why opening the borders and reducing those restrictions are so important.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay further signs this morning that the economy is getting back to where it was. Treasurer, deferred home loans have dropped from it’s peak this year; 500,000 down to 100,000. So that’s a significant drop, there’s still a lot of people though who are going to need extra help.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well Pete you’re absolutely right, the economic recovery still has some way to go, and we know that the road ahead is going to be hard, it’s going to be challenging, there’s a certain degree of unpredictability about how the world tackles this vaccine. But we do know that Australia has seen the jobs come back, and 90 per cent of the 1.3 million Australians who lost their jobs or saw their working hours reduced to zero are now back at work. We’ve seen economic growth pick up. We’ve seen capital city and regional house prices pick up. We’ve seen retail trade pick up, and now we have another data point, showing that people are starting to repay those loans, repayments that were deferred at the height of the crisis. I mean to consider that at the height of this crisis the banks deferred payments on $250 billion worth of loans, around three quarters of those were household loans, home loans, and a quarter of those were small business loans. We’ve now seen 80 percent of those loans to households start to be repaid back and 90 percent of those loans that were deferred, or the repayments that were deferred to small business start to be repaid back. This is good news for the economy and it shows the confidence and the ability Australians now have to start making those repayments again.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Just a couple of quick final ones Treasurer, overnight Germany has advised people over the age of 65 not to take the AstraZeneca vaccine. Are you concerned about that? Could that well be applied here?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well the first thing to say Pete, is the Pfizer vaccine is the one that’s received the TGA approval here in Australia and we’ll now roll that out to Australians in accordance with the procedures that we have put in place and those vaccines are being delivered without age restrictions. Now the AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet received TGA approval. We’re expecting a recommendation from the TGA by early March, if not sooner. They will take into account the German regulatory authorities’ thinking and data, as well as the British regulatory authorities’ thinking and data, because the German’s have said they don’t have enough data to provide it to those over 65’s, whereas the UK regulatory authorities have reached a different decision. So the TGA here, it’s an independent process, it’s very well regarded, we will fully follow it’s recommendations with respect to the AstraZeneca vaccine, but as I said, we’ve yet to receive that recommendation but we are expecting to receive it by early March or before.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Just finally on Anthony Albanese’s cabinet reshuffle or his reach upfront, frontbench reshuffle yesterday, it’s all about jobs, jobs, jobs for this year leading up to a potential election. He’s got two men basically on your tail now with Richard Marles, as well as the Shadow Treasurer as well, Jim Chalmers. You got any concerns about that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well Labor’s reshuffle is not about Australian’s jobs. It’s about helping to save Anthony Albanese’s job. It’s all about shifting the chairs there because it’s very clear whether it’s Tanya Pliberseck or Jim Chalmers, who unfortunately got a demotion yesterday, he and Tanya have made it very clear to everyone who’s willing to listen that they’re interested in that top job. So while the nation is fighting the pandemic, Labor is fighting amongst themselves and things must be desperate for Anthony Albanese if he’s had to sack his closest political ally in Mark Butler to try to keep the wolves from the door. So it’s pretty desperate times on the other side of the political fence right now.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay so no concerns there at all Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, thanks for your time as always. Talk to you soon.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you.