PETER STEFANOVIC:
Treasurer, good to see you. Thanks for joining us bright and early this morning, as always.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, Pete.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Now you’ve got this breaking news overnight. We spoke about this earlier on in the week, about AstraZeneca. A lot of European nations had paused the rollout. Well, Europe has decided overnight and declared that it is safe to continue to use. So is the Government justified in its position not to get too jumpy?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the Government is absolutely justified, based on the medical advice, to continue to rollout the AstraZeneca vaccine. What we have seen overnight is that the European equivalent of Australia’s TGA has said that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective and have not seen proof of that causal link between the vaccine and blood clots. It’s good news that the vaccine will continue to roll out. More than 200,000 Australians have been able to get the vaccine already. As you know, we’ve got this domestic sovereign manufacturing capability with CSL. That will see more than a million vaccines produced each week. That is a good sign as well that we are on track to deliver the vaccine as promised.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
We are behind, though. We are at a slower rate than a lot of places. Even the New South Wales Premier, Treasurer, yesterday declared that we’re not going to be able to catch up as if things proceed as they are. What do you say to that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, this is a massive logistical challenge. We’re obviously a very large country. We’re working closely with the health organisations, working closely with state and territory governments, and we’re undertaking probably the biggest logistical exercise since the Second World War. Now, the country’s up for it. It’s important that we roll out the vaccine as quickly and as safely as possible and that’s our intention. And the fact that we have a sovereign domestic capability to manufacture the vaccine is something that gives Australia a bit of an edge as well.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. On to the status of the economy, it’s in very good shape, no doubt about that, when compared to other parts of the world. Yet some strong news yesterday on unemployment – 5.8 per cent. So you said budget repair begins when the unemployment rate is comfortably below 6 per cent. Are we there yet? Are you comfortable enough to be able to begin budget repair?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we’re certainly not comfortably below 6 per cent. What we do know is the jobs are coming back but the job is not done. 5.8 per cent was far better than what the market was expecting. 88,700 new jobs was nearly three times what the market was expecting. And the good news is all those 88,700 new jobs were full-time jobs and more than 80 per cent of those jobs went to women, more than 40 per cent went to young people. And it was another proof point about how strong and resilient Australia’s labour market has been. Many people have tried to talk down the Australian economy. Many people have tried to talk down our labour market, but our economic plan is working. When Scott Morrison and I announced the JobKeeper program we did so as an emergency program. It was an emergency payment for six months. We extended it for another six months. But as the Prime Minister said yesterday, its job is done, and that’s why it comes to an end in March. We’ll move to the next stage of the transition plan. But if you look at the key economic indicators, Pete, we’ve maintained our AAA credit rating, we saw 3.1 per cent GDP growth in the December quarter, the first time we’ve had two consecutive quarters above 3 per cent since 1959. We’ve seen dwelling investment, people are going out and building and buying new homes and, of course, we’ve seen business investment have a massive jump off the back of our expanded instant asset write-off. So the good economic news continues to come, but there are also challenges out there and there are people in sectors, in regions that are doing it tough, and we remain there to support them.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So what would be comfortably below 6 per cent? Five and a half or closer to 5 per cent?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, I’ve said in the past, it might be around five and a quarter per cent, but let’s wait and see how the economy continues to transition. Because we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re not out of it yet. And there could be anything waiting for us around the corner. We’ve seen different variants of the virus, the global economy continues to remain fragile even though it is picking up in a number of countries. And, of course, here in Australia, we still have an unemployment rate at 5.8 per cent when it was 5.1 per cent when we went into this crisis in February last year. So we’ve still got a long way to go.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
How nervous are you, though? How personally concerned are you about when JobKeeper ends what it’s going to do to the unemployment rate and the economy?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, ending JobKeeper is the right policy, and it’s consistent with what the Reserve Bank has said and it’s consistent with what Treasury have told me. The JobKeeper program has a number of characteristics in it which will create adverse consequences for the economy if you leave it in place as the economy strengthens. In particular, it prevents the more efficient allocation of workers across the economy. It prevents people moving between jobs more efficiently and effectively. It may also prop up businesses that are unsustainable in the long term. We’re much better off having targeted support packages like that aviation and tourism package that we announced the other day; half price air fares designed to get more tourists on the ground and more planes in the air. The cheap loans that will help businesses back themselves, and, of course, other support payments that we’ve announced. All designed to get businesses to the other side and to get their workers there too.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Will the government try again on workplace reform?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look, we’re always looking for opportunities for reform, but what was shown yesterday in the Parliament is that the Labor Party is against the creation of new jobs, not for them. I mean, there were some very sensible reforms in that Bill that did not get the Labor Party’s support because they took an ideological position. I’m talking particularly about the extension of the term of which an enterprise agreement applies to a greenfields site. I mean, a greenfields site is where you get workers on the ground to help build a new mine or to help build a new gas project. And midway through that project, the employer is forced to the table to renegotiate contracts and basically be held to ransom in some cases. Now that is a deterrent to more investment. That’s a deterrent to more jobs. These were sensible reforms that we worked out together with the ACTU and employer groups. Yet the reforms were opposed holus bolus.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So will you try and revive the ditched components?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, we tried. We did get some sensible changes through the Parliament, including a pathway to convert as a casual to a permanent worker. There were still other reforms that didn’t get there. We’ll continue to assess the situation. But we did try and we got some changes, but we certainly didn’t get all of them.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
You weren’t much of a good luck charm at the football last night, Treasurer.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Carlton may have lost, but footy was the winner, Pete, because it was amazing.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Maybe you need Dustin Martin to try and help you get IR over the line.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, he’s certainly a superstar, and he showed that his good form for the last year continued into this season. But it was terrific to be there with the Prime Minister and my colleague, Dan Tehan, and 50,000 proud Victorians, because for the first time since COVID began we had such a big gathering of Victorians. And it’s a great lifter of the public mood to see the footy back, to be at the ‘G, to have a pie and have a beer and to celebrate the goals, but also the losses as well.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Very good. Very good to see so many people out in Melbourne last night, too. It’s been a tough year. A tough year. All right, Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, appreciate your time, as always. We’ll talk to you soon.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good to be with you.