SABRA LANE:
The Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, joined me earlier. Josh Frydenberg, welcome.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, nice to be with you.
SABRA LANE:
The Government is making COVID tests tax‑deductible for workers. Many countries – the UK, Germany, Denmark, Portugal, Singapore and the US – offer free tests to their citizens. The Morrison Government has them free for concession card holders, but not free for workers. Why not?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, as you say, we have made them free for concession card holders, more than six million, and that was a decision based on equity. But as for other individuals, they can make their own decisions to purchase the RAT tests and the Government has drawn the line with respect to paying for these RAT tests for the broader public. But if anybody is feeling symptomatic from COVID, they can turn up at a state clinic tomorrow and get a RAT test or get a PCR test at no cost to them.
SABRA LANE:
Why have you drawn the line there and what’s the cost to the budget?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We have drawn the line there because we say that if somebody is sick, then we can provide that test. Now, if we were to provide the free test to the broader public at the same rate that we’ve done with the concession card holders, we’re looking at a bill of more than $10 billion, and that’s not something that we would counter at this time.
SABRA LANE:
You were giving an address today to an employers group. They desperately want the borders reopened to everyone. The National Security Committee of Cabinet is meeting today to discuss that and you’re on that committee. How soon will that be and how confident are you that hospitals will cope if there are more cases brought in?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the good news is that Australia has seen its vaccination rate reach one of the highest in the world at over 93 per cent double‑dosed and we’ve seen booster shots be rolled out, more than eight million already –
SABRA LANE:
And onto the specifics of the question?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I’m getting to that, Sabra. We’ve seen ICU, hospitalisation and case numbers starting to come down. And that is a positive sign and that goes right to what the medical experts have said about Omicron peaking in the broader community. Now, we have sought to change our border settings as a result of the strengthening of our vaccination program. We changed it for students. We changed it for skilled workers and now we’re considering changing settings for tourists. This is obviously a multibillion‑dollar industry that employs hundreds of thousands of Australians, and if we make changes in that regard, I’m sure that will be welcomed in many quarters.
SABRA LANE:
There have been massive staff shortages in aged care. Will opening up help that situation or will Defence personnel be deployed to help?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, again, we’re giving consideration to the use of Defence personnel, as we’ve done in other parts of our pandemic response, including in terms of testing and logistics and the like. But when it comes to aged care, we’ve seen 78,000 shifts being conducted by our surge workforce, which has been drawing from the private healthcare sector. We’ve put in place two retention bonus payments of up to $800. That builds on the three payments that we did last year and –
SABRA LANE:
And the sector says about a quarter of shifts have been unfilled recently because of sickness and because of people being forced to isolate.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
And the aged‑care sector is no different to other sectors where we have seen high levels of absenteeism as a result of Omicron spreading through the community but we are now starting to –
SABRA LANE:
Only that they’re dealing with very sick people who need urgent care.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
And that’s why we’re absolutely responding with this surge workforce and, as I said, 78,000 shifts have been undertaken by the private health care sector. But, I mean, more broadly in this speech, what I go to is, of course, the supply chain pressures; what I go to is the workforce challenges that we face as well as the higher inflation. But I also point out that Australia is right now in the middle of a very strong economic recovery. We’ve got an unemployment rate which is the lowest level in more than 13 years. Our political opponents will talk down the economy at every single turn but when you look at the facts, it’s an inconvenient truth for them because they said the biggest test of the Morrison Government’s management of the pandemic will be what happens to the unemployment rate. It’s at 4.2 per cent today; for the first time since 1974, we have a chance to put into the threes.
SABRA LANE:
Barnaby Joyce offered his resignation to the Prime Minister over his text where he describes Scott Morrison as a hypocrite and a liar. How worried are you about this adding to the public perception that exists thanks to the French President and Gladys Berejiklian’s texts, or are you not worried about it as surveys often show that people think politicians lie anyway?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Barnaby Joyce’s comments were some time ago. They were in a different set of circumstances. He was on the backbench. He held a press conference. He apologised. That was accepted. And I know people will want to go on about text messages more than the unemployment rate, but that’s not the focus of the Government.
SABRA LANE:
But, sorry, he worked with the Prime Minister on and off as a shadow Cabinet Minister or as a Cabinet Minister since 2009. So, he’d made those comments having worked with him for that long period of time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I can only speak from my personal experience sitting around the National Security Committee table, the Expenditure Review Committee table, and the Cabinet table. Both with Barnaby Joyce and Scott Morrison, it’s a very constructive relationship and I won’t take lectures from the Labor Party about free character assessments and text messages or the like, because we saw plenty of those when they were last in Government.
SABRA LANE:
And Bob Carr has claimed that Peter Dutton is the source of that anonymous text message to the New South Wales Premier. How do you respond?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, Bob Carr when he was Foreign Minister was a waste of space. He now suffers from a bad bout of relevance deprivation syndrome. He was described by his own colleagues as narcissistic and immature and self‑indulgent. He’s put out a tweet that Peter Dutton has said is baseless. It’s been utterly rejected and I think it’s just poor form from a guy who probably knows no better.
SABRA LANE:
Treasurer, thank you for talking to AM this morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you.
SABRA LANE:
The Deputy Liberal Party Leader, Josh Frydenberg.