PETER STEFANOVIC:
The Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, joins us live from Canberra now. Treasurer, I will ask ‑ good morning to you, by the way. I will ask you about that in just a moment. I've got to get to our top story, though. That is Bob Carr outing Peter Dutton as the leaker of the Morrison "psycho" texts. Dutton has denied it. What's your response to it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Bob Carr was a waste of space as a foreign minister and now he suffers from a bad bout of relevance deprivation syndrome. When he was in parliament he was described by his own colleagues as a narcissist, self‑indulgent. We've seen that again today, because in putting out this text without any evidence ‑ Peter Dutton has utterly rejected it and said it was baseless and has asked for it to be pulled down. You see, our focus as a Government is not on text messages. That's what the Labor Party is focusing on. What we're focusing on is, creating more jobs for the people watching your show at home. What our focus is on is meeting the challenging cost of living pressures. Our focus is on is ensuring that Australia can remain safe as a result of the COVID pandemic. These are the big challenges that we're facing as a country and these are the big decisions that we're making.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Have you spoken to Minister Dutton?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I haven't this morning and…
PETER STEFANOVIC:
But you're ‑ are you convinced…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…but I will be speaking to him over the course of this morning.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Are you convinced by his denial that it's not him?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
He's been absolutely clear and categorical and unequivocal in his statement, and I think that's where it should be left.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
What my focus is on, and what his focus is on, and the Prime Minister's focus is on, is helping Australians stay safe and securing our economic recovery.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
"Disunity is death" goes the famous saying, Treasurer. There's open warfare within your own party at the moment and the Prime Minister's character has been called into question by more than a few people. How can you possibly win the next election with things the way they are?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Peter, as you know, many people, including those in the media, wrote us off in the lead‑up to the 2019 election and they were proved to be wrong, because there's only one poll that counts ‑ that's election day ‑ and the Australian people will make their decision then. And there are plenty of quiet Australians out there, people who are not sending Tweets, people who are not marching on parliament, people who are just getting about their daily jobs, ensuring their kids get a good education, meeting their mortgage and catching up with friends, and they're the ones we're talking to. They're the ones we're reminding of the fact that Australia has seen one of the strongest economic recoveries in the world. There are 1.7 million more people in a job today than when we came to government, including one million more women who are in work. The Labor Party, and particularly Jim Chalmers, said the single biggest test of the Morrison Government's management of the pandemic will be what happens to the unemployment rate, and now we're at a 13‑year low. You see, the Labor Party talks a very big game in Opposition, but if you look in their ‑ at their record in government, they don't deliver. They talk about creating more jobs, but when they were in government unemployment increased to 5.7 per cent. It's now 4.2 per cent. They talk about wage increases, but when they left government real wages were actually falling. They talk about the cost of living pressures, but when they were in government electricity prices doubled. They've come down by 10 per cent under us since December 2018. They talk about the high levels of debt, but again they're calling for more spending, like the extension/expansion of JobKeeper, the other initiatives like the six billion‑dollar cash splash to people who have already had the jab. You know, they talk about lower taxes, but when they went to the last election they promised $387 billion of higher taxes. You see, that's their record, and the next election, Pete, will be a very clear choice between our Government under Scott Morrison, which has created more jobs and now has one of the highest vaccination rates and one of the lowest mortality rates anywhere in the world, and a Labor Party who don't deliver, if they ever get a chance on the Treasury benches.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
It's been said, though, that Scott Morrison isn't quite the asset for the party that he was three years ago. Will you challenge for the leadership before the election?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Scott Morrison will be the first Prime Minister since John Howard to serve a full term and go to the Australian people. He campaigned brilliantly at the last election, as you know, and Labor was talking about $387 billion of high taxes and there was a very clear choice at the last election. This time Australians know that Anthony Albanese's trying to sneak into government and make himself a small target. I mean, he's strutting around the place like he's already in government. You know, Scott Morrison knows the job that is ahead of us and…
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. So ‑ but will you challenge…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…let's not forget the Labor Party's hubris…
PETER STEFANOVIC:
…will you or Peter Dutton challenge it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I can only speak for myself, and I'm right ‑ supporting our government, under Scott Morrison, deliver for the Australian people. So I ‑ you know, this talk of challenges ‑ that's you, right. Our focus…
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Not me. Not on me.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…is on delivering for the Australian people. Okay. Well, I can tell you my focus as the Treasurer ‑ my focus is on delivering for the Australian people…
PETER STEFANOVIC:
No? That's a no?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…getting that unemployment rate to have a "3" in front of it.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
That's a no; you're not going to do it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I'm not.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I'm not about to.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. All right. Just on to economic matters now. You're talking about drawing a line in the sand at the moment when it comes to the economy…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yeah.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
…that you want to return to normalised settings. What does that mean? When do you want to see that happen?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
What it means is that we're bringing that emergency economic assistance that has been so important through this crisis to an end. And a good example of that was, when we ended JobKeeper the Labor Party said it should be expanded and extended, at a cost of billions of dollars a month. And, as you'll remember, Anthony Albanese said at the time the economic roof would come crashing down if we ended JobKeeper. What actually happened was 120,000 more jobs were created over the next three months. When we ended the COVID disaster payments, Katy Gallagher, the Shadow Finance Spokesperson, said that it shouldn't happen. And now ‑ when New South Wales and other states wanted to have extra spending packages we said ‑ we declined that offer to join them. It's about drawing a line in the sand. Of course, we've still got increased spending on health, because there are some things there that need to be undertaken as a matter of urgency, and we're doing that, but when it comes to those broader economic assistance packages, we're moving the economy back to a normalised setting. We want people to get back to the CBDs. We want workers to continue to go about their daily lives…
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So Budget repair is underway?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…we want to capitalise on what we're seeing is a very strong recovery. I'll point you to one static. In the Final Budget Outcome for 2021 we saw an $80 billion improvement compared to what I said would be the deficit back when I did the budget in the months prior. Now, that was a result of people getting into work in greater numbers that we expected. More people in work pay more tax. There's a lower number of people on welfare. That's how you improve the budget. That's how you strengthen the economy. The key for us is driving that productivity growth. The key for us is creating more jobs and that will see an improvement in the budget bottom line.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Just a final one here on RATs, we just heard from our reporter Mark Stevens talking about this in Melbourne so, basically, tax breaks for individuals and businesses who get them. How much of a cost is that and just how's it going to work for people?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Firstly, it's for the 21-22 Financial Year, so the one that we're actually in now, and then, of course, for the next year as well. And what that means is that if you are an individual and you purchase a test, a RAT test ‑ so, for example, let's say a retail worker and you want to test yourself before you go into work, then that is tax deductible for you, and then you will, obviously, make that as part of your tax return at the end of the financial year. If you are a business ‑ we're ensuring that businesses are not subject to fringe benefits tax when it comes to providing RAT tests to their workers. That's something that the business community has asked for. Now, it's going to be a welcome change. It's going to clarify the tax treatment for a lot of people and it's also going to, obviously, reduce the cost. But when it comes to the ‑ you know, the more vulnerable cohorts, so those in aged care, we're providing RAT tests free. When it comes to concessional card holders, more than six million of them, pensioners and veterans and the like, we're providing those RAT tests free. And when it comes to people who are sick, watching your program if they're symptomatic, for example, they can go to a state clinic and get a RAT test or a PCR test free of charge. We are providing a significant number of RAT tests to the community free of charge, but, at the same time, if individuals and businesses purchase them and use them for work‑related expense, then they will now be tax deductible.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, as always thank you for your time. I appreciate it.