PETER STEFANOVIC:
Treasurer live with us. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, thank you for that. It’s first day back. Just a little bit rusty, so you’ll just have to excuse me here. Before we get on to tax issues, I do want to ask you about the tennis and Novak Djokovic. As the Treasurer and one‑time tennis prodigy, are you disappointed not to see the world’s best player here?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Like many, I obviously have great respect for Novak Djokovic’s tennis ability, but, obviously, disagree with him vehemently when it comes to his stance on vaccinations, and rules are rules. And I think I speak for many Australians when I say, let the games begin. The Australian Open is much bigger than an individual player. It’s a great festival of sport and tennis and one of the four grand slams around the world. And I’m looking forward to Ash Barty in particular, hopefully, holding that trophy aloft – no pressure whatsoever. It’s been a long process, but, you know, many Australians understand that we need to ensure the integrity of our border protection policies that have helped keep us safe during this crisis. And the Health Minister Greg Hunt was very clear and explicit in his letter in late November to Tennis Australia as to what the conditions of entry were for someone who was unvaccinated, and clearly Novak Djokovic did not meet those particular conditions.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
This could all have been avoided, though. Should he have been invited in the first place?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Obviously he – he’s invited to participate in the Australian Open as the number one tennis player in the world, but he did not get the vaccination. He did not subject himself to the two weeks’ quarantine, and as a result he tried to run the gauntlet of Australia’s border protection policies; and, ultimately, a full court of the Federal Court upheld the Minister’s decision and he’s departed the country. But I think Rafa Nadal actually spoke for not just tennis players but for so many across the community saying that they deeply respect Novak Djokovic’s tennis ability, but he chose his own road with respect to vaccination, and it was not road that sees people admitted Australia to participate in sporting events or daily lives if they’re unvaccinated as he was.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Well, Labor is asking the question this morning: why was a visa granted in the first place? So why was a visa granted and does Tennis Australia and does the Victorian Government need to face more questions on this?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
When he put in his visa, he obviously said he was unvaccinated but also that he had one of the valid exemptions, and when you get to the border, those exemptions are tested, and it did not meet the criteria that was set out by ATAGI and criteria that was made very clear to Tennis Australia back in late November in writing by the Health Minister Greg Hunt. Now, the Immigration Minister had the ultimate say – Alex Hawke. He made his decision obviously after much consideration of the information and that was upheld by the full court. Now we move on. The Australian Open begins, and I look forward to two weeks of great tennis.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Now, on to economic matters. Treasurer, you’re outlining today the extra money that Australians have in their pockets because of your tax cuts. Any plans to introduce more tax cuts?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Obviously we look for every opportunity to reduce taxes, as we’ve done since coming to Government as a Coalition, and under Scott Morrison we’re seeing $1.5 billion a month of tax relief provided to income earners. Indeed, over the last six months, at the end of last year, we saw 11.7 million Australians get more than $15 billion in tax relief. That was the largest set of income tax cuts over a six‑month period in more than two decades. This is rewarding effort. This is encouraging aspiration, and this is very consistent with the Liberal Party and the National Party’s political philosophy. We’ve also cut taxes for small businesses down to 25 per cent, which is the lowest in more than half a century, and we’ve also put in place business tax incentives to encourage more investment, which has actually seen increases in investment even though we’ve been through the COVID recession. Now, this will be a clear battle line, a clear fault line, at the upcoming election because Australians remember that it wasn’t that long ago at the last election that Labor took $387 billion of higher taxes, and Anthony Albanese has spent his whole career arguing for higher taxes, whether it was the retirees’ tax or the housing tax or the superannuation tax or he was a big supporter of the carbon tax and the mining tax. He’s even talked about a congestion tax and other taxes. He can’t walk away from that spotlight as we approach the election, because it will be a very clear contest between two choices: a Labor‑Greens Coalition and a Liberal‑National Party Coalition, and our track record is there for everyone to see how we’ve cut taxes, how we’ve rewarded effort and we’ve done it for both households and for small businesses.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
But Labor supported your tax cuts, though, and has vowed not be increase taxes this time around.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Don’t believe them. I mean, Jim Chalmers, who’s the Shadow Treasurer, has said that our tax cuts were offensive, and now he wants us to believe him. He said he was proud and pleased at the housing and the retirees’ tax. Chris Bowen, a Labor frontbencher, said, “If you don’t like Labor’s high taxes then don’t vote for us.” The Australian people took him literally. And again, Anthony Albanese has talked about top end of town. Labor’s class war rhetoric, their desire to pit one Australian against another, that is run through their DNA. That’s what they said at the last election. That’s what they’ve even said more recently. Just because they lost the last election doesn’t mean that leopard hasn’t changed its spots.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, appreciate your time there, live from Coles this morning. Thank you. We’ll talk to you again soon.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you.