PETER STEFANOVIC:
Treasurer good morning to you, thanks so much for joining us. I get a bit confused with all these different credit agencies, but I’m assuming that you’re still wearing that as a badge of honour.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look, it’s very good news for the Australian economy to have this vote of confidence from Moody’s with our AAA credit rating being maintained and that follows the AAA credit rating for Australia being maintained for the other leading agencies, namely Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. Australia is one of only 10 nations to have a AAA credit rating from the three leading rating agencies and why this is important to your viewers, Pete, is because the credit rating of the sovereign impacts on the cost of borrowing, whether it’s by state governments, or indeed whether it’s by banks. So this is important for the economy as a whole. Moody’s pointed to the economy’s resilience through this crisis and the Government’s effective policy making and that’s why this is such an important announcement.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. So much attention still on, and continues to be on the extensions possibly of JobKeeper and JobSeeker. Your next support package is going to relate to the arts and entertainment industry, when might we see that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
In coming days. We’ve been working hard on that policy led by Paul Fletcher, the Arts Minister and Communications Minister. He’s been working with the Expenditure Review Committee and other relevant Ministers on this process. Recently the Prime Minister, Paul and myself joined a call with leading members of the arts community and the entertainment industry and we heard first hand some of the challenges that they are facing in their industry as a result of the social distancing requirements which prevents them from holding their normal concerts and other artistic events which would otherwise have been the case.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
There’s some disappointment today that theme parks are going to miss out, are they?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Look I’m not going to go into the detail of what will be an imminent announcement. But certainly we’re looking to provide significant support to an important sector of the economy at a difficult time. Dare I say building on the support that we’ve already announced today. We’ve already announced $27 million of support for Indigenous arts organisations, for regional arts organisations, for a group called Support Act to provide financial assistance to those who are in that sector in need and of course the JobKeeper payments have been going in large amounts to those in the arts sector, including organisations such as the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Queensland Ballet, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Opera and a whole range of others.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Anthony Albanese is going to be giving a speech today Treasurer, he wants to endorse the Government’s technology roadmap, what are your thoughts on that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well it’s always interesting to see a Labor backflip. If you look at their track record, it’s hard to know how genuine it really is. I mean, they voted against our big stick legislation a dozen times. Their Shadow Environment and Energy Minister Mark Butler said only weeks ago that carbon capture and storage was a pipe dream. Now we’re hearing Anthony Albanese talk favourably about that. The Shadow Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has written that the carbon tax was more important than the Hawke and Keating reforms like floating the Australian dollar, privatisation and removing tariffs. So, our policies have always been to focus on technology, not taxation. The Labor Party’s track record has been for higher taxes to reduce emissions. This reminds me about that Groucho Marx saying ‘if you don’t like these principles, well hang on, I’ve got some others.’ So there is a lot of Groucho about Albo.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Alright, well he says, any new national plan must accommodate higher emissions reductions targets. I mean, can you at least work with that?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well look, we are working and focused on reducing emissions, but also importantly reducing prices and increasing the stability of our sector and Angus Taylor has done an excellent job in that regard, we have seen prices come down for households and for business. We’ve seen our big stick legislation come into effect, we’ve been putting more transparency into the energy system, we’ve been getting more gas out of the ground and of course, our technology roadmap paves the way for going forward. So Scott Morrison has very clearly set out our principals, set out our goals and has set out a means to achieve them.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
We’ve got a minute left Treasurer, but I just want to get your thoughts on this stoush that’s brewing between Victoria and New South Wales at the moment. The New South Wales Premier says that businesses should refuse business from people who have come from Melbourne, is that something you agree with?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
No I don’t. I think as a Victorian I wear the big V on my chest but as the Treasurer I also wear the big T and I’m focused on what is best for the Australian economy as a whole and indeed the Australian nation. I don’t want to see battles over borders between states, we’re all Australian and we’re all focused on the same goal, namely supressing that curve by reducing the number of coronavirus cases while also strengthening our economy. We’re having progress on both fronts and we need to work together, be it a New South Wales Premier or a Victorian Premier, be it a Liberal Premier or a Labor Premier.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
What about hotels where travellers go and quarantine, if those quarantine laws are breached, should hotels lose that right to host those incoming travellers and keep them in quarantine?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well certainly breaches of those quarantine rules are very serious and we know the broader implications that they have for the health of the nation and indeed the economy as well. So we do need serious rules in place to ensure that doesn’t occur and no doubt this will be one of the topics that the National Cabinet will discuss when it meets on Friday.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, as always, appreciate your time this morning, thanks for joining us.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good to meet you.