SARAH HARRIS:
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg joins us now from Canberra. Treasurer, thanks so much for being with us. It's a pretty impressive recovery off the back of lockdowns. But what impact will the floods and the war in Ukraine, what will they have on the economy?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, in different ways and to different extents. Both the Ukrainian conflict as well as the floods will impact our economy. In terms of Ukraine, we have very limited exposure, both on the trade side and in our financial system, to both Russia and the Ukraine. But higher oil prices will make its way through to the bowser here in Australia. And with respect to the floods, clearly there's going to be a large clean‑up bill, and we've already made payments available to people impacted by the floods in New South Wales and in Queensland. And we have 900 defence force personnel who are on the ground helping with the rescue effort. So, it will impact on the economy in both cases. But yesterday's national account numbers should give your viewers a lot of confidence about the year ahead because Australia has outperformed all the other major advanced economies in the world over the last two years.
TRISTAN MACMANUS:
While corporate profits are up, of course, it can't always be good news. Workers wages are going backwards, it seems. What are you going to do to generate wage growth?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, firstly, wages went up. If you look at what is called the compensation of employees, the overall wages bill of our economy went up in yesterday's national accounts, indeed, more than company profits have been. But what our focus is on is getting a tighter labor market where employers are competing for employees. And we have an unemployment rate today, Tristan, at 4.2 per cent. When we came to Government, it was 5.7 per cent. And unlike Australia's experience during the recessions of the 1980s and the 1990s, where unemployment stayed elevated for a very long time, we've actually been getting more people back into work and driving the unemployment rate down lower than it was going into the pandemic. That's, again, very different to the experiences of other countries around the world. In the United States, for example, there are 2.9 million fewer Americans in work today than at the start of the pandemic, whereas in Australia there are 260,000 more people in work today than at the start of the pandemic.
SARAH HARRIS:
Treasurer, can we just go back to floods and flood relief just for a moment. How much financial assistance has been earmarked for the recovery effort? We heard from the Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk in Queensland, that Queensland is looking at a bill of around a billion dollars. So what sort of help will the Federal Government give?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
So the first payment that we make is called the disaster recovery payment. This is a one‑off $1,000 payment which is non‑means tested which is tax exempt and there are 145,000 applications already for that payment that we're processing as we speak. Then there's also something called the disaster recovery allowance which is an up to 13 week payment and that is for people who can't get to work and therefore need that economic support. So we've triggered that. There are other major payments which are called Category C and Category D for disaster support that we'll have announcements about in the very near term. And then, of course, there's the big clean‑up effort which the Commonwealth has always been a part of after natural disasters, whether it's been bushfires, cyclones or previous floods. So we'll be there this time around, just as we've been there last time.
TRISTAN MACMANUS:
Treasurer, while we have you, there's been a lot of concern, obviously, for Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his COVID. How is he doing and how are you doing yourself? Any symptoms?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I'm feeling pretty good, but I've had COVID previously and it does knock you around a bit, but it's certainly better than having extended lockdown. So let's not go back there. I spoke to the PM last night, been in touch with him this morning, he's obviously got flu‑like symptoms like so many other people get and he's following the medical rules and he's isolating at home. He'll be back at work before too long. So he's been hit by this, just as thousands of other Australians have been. But he'll be stronger on the other side.
SARAH HARRIS:
Alright, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Just in time for the election.
SARAH HARRIS:
That's exactly right. Josh Frydenberg, thanks for joining us today.