ROWAN DEAN:
Joining us now, I’m delighted to say, is the Federal Treasurer of Australia, Josh Frydenberg. I want to start with your speech today, Treasurer. After a rough two years, is the economy starting to get back in shape?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Absolutely, and we’re going to see the fiscal dividend in the budget in just over a week’s time from a strong economy, in particular the unemployment rate coming down to 4 per cent, the lowest level in 14 years, female unemployment now at its lowest level since 1974, is seeing more people in work, therefore paying taxes and less people on welfare, and that’s improving the budget bottom line. And what’s important is that we are continuing to maintain that fiscal discipline. We’ve brought the emergency economic support to an end. Remember when we ended JobKeeper, Rowan, Anthony Albanese said the economic roof would come crashing down. It was a false prophecy. What we saw within the three months after we took that decision, 120,000 new jobs were created. Labor also wanted us to keep going indefinitely with the COVID disaster payments that we introduced during the Delta outbreak, we brought those to an end. We saw more people employed after that. We said no to other States that were asking for further spending and funding, and we’ve been very conscious of the fact that we need to bring that budget back under control given that we’ve gone through a pretty tough couple of years, and you’re going to see some material improvements in the bottom line in just over a week’s time.
ROWAN DEAN:
I think, Treasurer, that’s really important. So, can I ask the obvious question, as far as Treasury is concerned, and the Treasurer is concerned, is COVID over?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, no, we are still in the middle of the pandemic, but Omicron being the latest variant did have an impact on workforce participation and absenteeism, but it didn’t see a big drop in consumer spending that some were expecting. So, its actual impact on the overall economy was not as severe as people thought, and now that restrictions have eased, people are getting about their daily lives, we’re seeing an increase in consumer spending through hospitality and tourism, important areas that were constrained obviously during those lockdowns and the other health restrictions. People are getting back to their daily lives, and that’s a good thing. So, we’re learning to live with COVID, but it’s not over.
ROWAN DEAN:
Australia has issued another set of sanctions today against two Russian businessmen in our resources sector. Now, Mr Frydenberg, your family are from Eastern Europe and escaped both the Nazis and the Communists, much to your relief, I imagine. What are your personal thoughts on the Ukraine crisis, and will the crisis impact on your budget?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, it will have an impact on the budget, and we’re seeing global inflation and particularly higher energy prices flowing through here in Australia to the bowser, and that obviously impacts families and their ability to have more disposable income available to them. We’re also seeing pressures on global supply chains and higher freight costs and again that flows through to the consumer. We’re also seeing higher prices for key commodity exports from Australia like coal, which is up about 50 per cent since the invasion began, and that does provide extra revenue for the Government as a result of those exporters (inaudible)…
ROWAN DEAN:
Sounds like a good reason to keep coal going.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, it’s certainly an important part of the energy mix, but I think the key point is that there’s swings and roundabouts when it comes to the economic impacts of global developments like this. But with respect, Rowan, to developments more broadly in Ukraine, it’s tragic to see the images on our TV screens of the bombing of civilian targets, to hear about the rising death toll. To see Zelensky’s bravery on our TV screens each and every day as he stands up to the might of the Russian military is really inspiring. And Putin’s actions in Ukraine have an eerie similarity to what Hitler did in the Sudetenland in the late 1930s. And we remember Neville Chamberlain went off to see Hitler, got a signed piece of paper saying that Hitler wasn’t going to advance on any other countries in Europe and Chamberlain declared peace in our time. Well, it was anything but that. As you know, the rest is history and Hitler marched into Poland and elsewhere and we had World War II and many, many people died as a result. So the world is right, Liberal democracies are right, to stand firm against this aggression, this naked aggression, from Vladimir Putin and Russia. And the cost that is being incurred by the Russian economy is very severe, but I do fear that if they take Ukraine, there could be other countries that could be in their sights down the track.
ROWAN DEAN:
We’re all still mourning the loss of the extraordinary Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching, a political warrior and patriot. I was lucky to meet her and enjoyed her company enormously. It’s been extremely distressing this week to read reports of the hostility and allegations of bullying that Senator Kitching faced. But here’s the thing, Treasurer, ever since Tony Abbott first looked at his watch and adjusted his blue tie during a Julia Gillard speech, the Liberals have been accused of having a problem with women. But as we’ve heard from both Kimberley Kitching and Emma Husar it’s within Labor ranks that the problem with women really exists, yet, Treasurer, with all these allegations of bullying and hostility, Labor leader Anthony Albanese has gone missing. Are you surprised?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I don’t think these allegations can be dismissed and they’re obviously serious. They’re disturbing and they compound the grief for many people who considered, like myself, Kimberley Kitching a good friend. She was somebody who stood on principle, a person of conviction and someone who effected real change in key areas like human rights with the Magnitsky laws, and she worked very closely with a number of my colleagues and worked well across the political divide to generate that change through the Parliament. So, she will be greatly missed. It’s up to Anthony Albanese to decide the way he’s going to take this forward. But certainly, these are distressing and disturbing allegations, and I just don’t want it to detract, though, from Kimberley Kitching’s great contribution and the very genuine and decent person that she was.
ROWAN DEAN:
Treasurer, indeed Penny Wong, Kristina Keneally and Katy Gallagher, I’ll just point out, have now said in a statement today that the allegations are untrue. But I want to move on just briefly before you go, Treasurer, just have to ask, the Climate 200 mob, this is the so‑called Independents funded by the likes of Simon Holmes à Court, they’re making a big wave at the moment with their sort of grandstanding environmental politics. Their Facebook ad spending is enormous and it’s targeting Liberal seats such, indeed, as your own in Kooyong where you have Monique Ryan who claims to be independent but she’s a huge Julia Gillard fan. Are this mob fair dinkum, Treasurer?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
No, they’re not. They’re fake Independents. These are voices of Labor. You have got a number of Independents, including the one running in Kooyong, who are former longstanding members of the Labor Party. Now, they sought to obscure these facts from the voting public talking about themselves as being clean skins, and without political backgrounds. Well, and even dare I say, calling themselves small “l” liberals. Give me a break. What a joke. I think people can see right through it. You know, at the end of the day, Simon Holmes à Court is a coward. He’s happy to put everyone else’s name but his on the ballot box and the ballot paper, and we will obviously fight very hard in all the seats that we’re being challenged, but we have a very strong story to tell about the economic recovery that’s underway in Australia. It’s better than the advanced economies around the rest of the world, both in employment and output terms. We’ve outperformed the likes of the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Germany, Italy, France and others and I think that is a real credit to 26 million Australians, and it’s proof that our economic plan is working.
ROWAN DEAN:
Well, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, I know many, many Australians will be taking that into first and foremost account at the ballot box and you can tell us the date if you want, but I’m guessing in May there, May 21 or 14. Thanks. Good luck with the budget next week and thank you so much for joining us here on Credlin tonight. Thank you, Treasurer.