PETER STEFANOVIC:
Treasurer, good to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning Pete.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So $100 million, that’s the estimated amount of revenue that was lost in Melbourne over the weekend, not to mention the mental blow for people. Was the call the right one by Daniel Andrews?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well as you know the Prime Minister said that it required a proportionate response, so we have a new infectious, more infectious strain and governments need to take the health advice. But this is a very challenging time for the Victorian community, both families and for businesses, and we all hope that both the Government and the health professionals in Victoria are able to get on top of this local outbreak as fast as possible. I was speaking to a restauranteur just yesterday, Pete. And to show the devastation that such a lockdown has on his business, it has cost him $50,000 in food, food that can’t donate, food that he just has to throw out. Another $30,000 in wages as he had a number of chefs preparing that food all week, for what was expected to be a bumper weekend of trade with Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year, obviously people coming and going to the tennis so this is pretty tough for businesses, pretty tough for the kids who have to stay home from school, pretty tough for people who have to work from home. But it again, a painful reminder of the challenges we face with this virus.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
As a Victorian, do you have full faith in the contact tracing program?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well there’s no doubt, they’ve made improvements in Victoria since the second wave and as Greg Hunt said, it’s a much improved system and we have also offered additional support to Victoria. So they are running their contact testing and tracing, they have that responsibility to follow up these new cases, let’s hope they get on top of it very quickly. And certainly the Commonwealth is prepared to provide that additional support to them.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
You say improved, but still a long way short of where it needs to be?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well if you’re asking me who the gold standard is, that’s clearly New South Wales, they haven’t gone into a full state lockdown despite having clusters of cases. That’s not an experience that’s been replicated in other states. But clearly there has been improvements in Victoria and we welcome that and want to see Victoria and its more than six million people get out of lockdown. And that quarter of the national economy, as Victoria represents, back on its feet quickly.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
The Victorian Government, as you might have just heard Treasurer, wants to revamp quarantine and potentially use facilities near Geelong. Would you support that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, I haven’t seen the details of that specific proposal, all I do know is that quarantine and hotel quarantine has proven to be affective in other states, it’s based on the advice that the Government has received, it’s also been discussed and agreed at National Cabinet and we need to remain open to Australians coming home, whether it’s for births or deaths, whether it’s for the inbound importation of medicines that we need, whether it’s the exporting of agricultural goods which help, puts money into the economy and creates jobs. We need to remain open as far as we can in a COVID-safe way and that means ensuring that we have got a quarantine system and one that’s effective.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
You got new JobKeeper details out today Treasurer.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yes.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
State by state, industry by industry at the moment. Most of it is positive. When you’re talking about Victoria though, there has only been a 44 per cent drop in the number of people who have come off JobKeeper payments, in Victoria, are you considering anything extra for the state of Victoria, beyond March?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Not right now. We know that Victorians have relied heavily on the Government’s support, the Federal Government’s support, that is, whether it’s the JobKeeper program, the JobSeeker payments, the cash flow boost, and the $750 payments as well as other additional support. Right now, there’s more people on JobKeeper from Victoria than from any other state. But what this latest ATO data shows is that there’s been a remarkable improvement in the Australian labour market. We’ve seen a 70 per cent fall in the number of people on JobKeeper through that December quarter, compared to the previous period. In Western Australia, a 67 per cent fall in South Australia, a 65 per cent fall in Tasmania, a 64 per cent fall in Queensland, a 60 per cent fall in New South Wales and as you say, just a 44 per cent fall in Victoria because Victoria’s the only state to have gone through a second wave.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So, can you confirm, there’s a report this morning too Treasurer, that you may be considering a new welfare payment, but it’s all rolled into one, so it’s inclusive of all supplements. Are you considering that? Can you confirm that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I’m not going to speculate on speculation as you would expect my position to be. What I can say again is that the Prime Minister and I, Anne Ruston, have all been pretty consistent that we would make an announcement about the future of that JobSeeker payment before that supplement at that heightened level ends in March and we have been working through our options in relation to that but I’m not going to speculate on speculation in today’s media.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Is it incorrect?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I’m not going to give you an answer either way, other than to say we’re working through our options, we have effectively doubled that safety net with the JobSeeker payment, we are seeing the economy pick up, those JobKeeper numbers today are very encouraging. They were broad based, Pete, they were across all states and territories, they were across all major regions and they were across all major sectors of the economy, so that improvement in more than two million people graduating off JobKeeper, is a very encouraging sign indeed.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Can you at least confirm, right here, right now, Treasurer, that people on JobSeeker will get more than $40 a day?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Again, I’m not going to go further than what I said previously, which is, we will make an announcement, no matter which way you twist it and turn it Pete and how many times you ask me, we will make an announcement about that future rate of JobSeeker before the end of March
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. The ACTU, Sally McManus saying yesterday that she wants JobKeeper payments extended for the course of the pandemic, which could last a long time, what’s your response to that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well of course the ACTU would say that, just like the Labor Party. They’ve never seen a tax they didn’t want to increase and a spending proposal that they didn’t like. The fact of the matter is , already JobKeeper has been the most expensive and most comprehensive Government support program ever announced, it’s forecast to cost around $90 billion, you’ve seen a substantial fall in the number of people on JobKeeper. You also saw a review from Treasury last year on the JobKeeper program which found that it actually had some adverse incentives, particularly pronounced as the economy picks up. And that means that it prevents people being deployed to other sectors or to other jobs across the economy. It impedes that labour mobility that we need and so therefore a program like that always needs to be temporary. It was originally for six months, we extended it for six months, now people are graduating off it. So our intention is for it to end in March.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, we’re out of time, but appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for joining us as always, talk to you soon.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Always good to be with you.