PETER STEFANOVIC:
Well, joining us live now from Melbourne is the Treasurer for the second time in two days, Josh Frydenberg. Treasurer, good to see you once more. We will start off with the unions today and the demands that it's making. It wants businesses to now provide free RAT tests to its staff members to ensure a safe workplace. What's your reaction to that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, some employers will and others won't. What we do know is if somebody is sick and they are a designated close contact, they can turn up at a state clinic and get either a RAT test or a PCR at no cost to them. And the cost will be picked up 50/50 by the Commonwealth Government in partnership with the State Government. It's not a choice between one person's job and one person's health. In fact, what we're trying to do is protect jobs and use the best medical health advice to do so. The isolation requirements were changed by National Cabinet after advice from the chief medical officers. And it's disappointing, to say the least, to see the unions out fear mongering today, stoking fear in the community, telling falsehoods. No one's talking about letting it rip. What we're saying is that Omicron is a new phase of the pandemic and hundreds of thousands of people are getting the virus like myself, and they may need to isolate. And when they isolate, the Commonwealth is picking up the tab with the pandemic leave disaster payment. And if someone is a designated close contact, they'll also be required to isolate. But if they are asymptomatic and they've tested negative, then they can go back to work. And I think that is really important for people to understand, is we've got to get a balanced approach here. We've got to have a response that's proportionate to the risk. We need to have the understanding of employers about their employee situation and understanding of employees about employers situation. We will get through this, but not by stoking fear and telling falsehoods, as we're hearing from the unions today.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
There is a last resort claim, though, that the union will strike if businesses don't provide those free tests to employers. Is that fair on businesses who, as we know, have had to do it so tough?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well such drastic action and intimidation and threats has no place in the middle of a pandemic. It would be exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time for the economy and for people's jobs. It would be putting union workers last, not first, and it would be damaging people's job prospects, and ultimately it wouldn't be achieving anything on the health front. The unions should know better. Anthony Albanese should know better. We know that he's a mouthpiece for the unions. I reckon he's too weak to stand up to the unions on this one. He's too weak to tell the truth. And the truth is the National Cabinet, Labor and Liberal Premiers and chief ministers alike came together, made changes to the isolation requirements based on the medical advice. It's not a binary choice between someone's job and someone's health. What we're doing is protecting jobs using the best health advice.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
But also it's very difficult to be able to get RAT tests in the first place for businesses at the moment. Is that a failure on your government's part?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, firstly, 3 million RAT tests arrived in Victoria in recent days, 200 million are on order and millions are on their way to Australia. But if you are sick, if you're symptomatic, turn up at a state clinic and get a RAT test or get a PCR test. We've provided 10 million RAT tests to the states to work through their state clinics. As you know, from the 24th of January, we're providing RAT tests through chemists to people who are concessional cardholders like pensioners and the like. More than 6 million people will benefit. We're in the middle of a pandemic, Pete. This is a really tough time. There's no perfect solutions. There's no perfect response. But Australia is in a very strong position compared to the rest of the world. We have one of the lowest mortality rates in the world, one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, and one of the strongest economic recoveries in the world. We've got there by working together, not as we're seeing from the unions today with intimidation and threats which will actually seek to pull us apart.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
You did point out the close contact rule changes, particularly in those crucial industries that involve supply chain backlogs at the moment. What more can you do? Matt Canavan was on the show earlier suggesting, well, perhaps you got to bring in and allow more freedoms for unvaccinated people to get them into work, to help out. Is that something that you would consider to help ease that backlog?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we're about doing everything we can in a COVID-safe way to support the workforce. So you're right, we've changed the isolation requirements and we've got a balanced, practical, pragmatic response there. We're allowing people on student visas to work more hours, which will increase the size of the workforce. We're putting in place a plan to keep schools open, which could include the use of RAT tests. And that's what National Cabinet will be agreeing and working on later this week. That will be important, because if we don't, then schools, if they don't open or they start to close over the term, that will put more pressure on the workforce. We're also getting booster shots to those areas, in particular those workforce areas that those workers could benefit from that. So we're taking a number of actions. I'm here today at Cameron's trucking business, employs close to 1000 people, it's a 50 year family trucking business. And they say on the ground here, that the recent changes the government has made through National Cabinet has actually helped get more workers back to work and has helped ease some of those pressures on the supply chains. Pressures that are still real. Yesterday I was at a Coles distribution centre at Laverton, today at a trucking business. These are key arteries in the economy and we need to keep them going and that's why unions and employers need to work together to make that happen.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay, Treasurer, just a final one on Craig Tiley, the boss of Tennis Australia. Pressure. Speaking of pressure, there's pressure on him to resign. Should he?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I think Craig Tiley has done a terrific job as the head of tennis here in Victoria in order to ensure that the Australian Open remains a standout Grand Slam event. The players seem to love The Open. We've seen obviously crowds love it when they can go. It's been particularly difficult through the pandemic so this is a time for the board to get around Craig Tiley, and for them to obviously work with him to deliver a great Australian Open. The Australian Open is much bigger than an individual player, Pete, in this case Novak Djokovic. We've got the best players in the world here. Hopefully an Australia will hold the trophy aloft, and I think Craig Tiley has done a really good job as the head of the Australian Open ensuring that it has Premier status as an international sporting event and has put Australia on the map.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay Josh Frydenberg, thanks as always for your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you.