SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Treasurer, good morning to you. Thank you for your time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
You've just heard from Mandy there. She is supporting two children, another adopted child, she is desperately seeking work at the moment, $3.50 a day she says is just going to send her broke. What do you have to say to Mandy? What is your message to her this morning?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well that the Government is doing everything to try to create the jobs for those who are unemployed to get into work. Obviously there is many, many difficult challenges for us in the face of this once in a century pandemic and the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression. These are human stories. These are our friends. These are our neighbours. These are our family members who have been out of work and who need the support. Now, the Government is providing the safety net with JobSeeker, it's not expected to be a payment that somebody is on indefinitely. The whole focus for the Government is to try to create the conditions around mutual obligation but also the other supports that we are providing into the labour market and into the broader economy to help create those jobs for Mandy. Now, this increase, the most substantial since 1986, will see the JobSeeker payment now be around 41 per cent of the national minimum wage, that’s where it was in the 2000s. But it was never meant to be a replacement wage. It was always meant to be a safety net. That’s why the vast majority of people are also receiving other supplementary payments. But I say to Mandy, as I say to all your viewers today, we are seeing real improvements in the labour market. People are coming off JobKeeper, people are coming off JobSeeker and finding work and we will continue to invest in the areas of the economy that need it for those jobs to be created.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Mandy said there is nothing she can do with $3.50 a day. Welfare groups, economists have slammed the increase as a heartless betrayal. Are you open to negotiation at all here?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We have made it very clear we have announced yesterday that increase and, again, it is a very substantial increase in the context of the JobSeeker payment. It's in addition to all the other supports that we are providing across the economy, including the JobKeeper program. Now, the JobKeeper program is coming to an end but what we have seen in some data that I will be releasing today is 600,000 fewer people have been on JobKeeper in the January period compared to the December quarter. Now, that is a sign of the economy recovering, that is a sign that people don't need those broader supports.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
If there's no room for negotiation here, though, you could have quite a task getting this through Parliament given you lost your working majority yesterday when Craig Kelly decided to quit the Liberal Party. Are you sorry, Treasurer, to see him go?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I won't hide my disappointment in Craig's announcement yesterday. It's very disappointing. He was elected under the Liberal Party's banner in his electorate and he was a member of our team. That being said, he made it clear in his statement that he will continue to provide confidence and supply to the Government, that he supports Prime Minister Scott Morrison and that he will continue to work with us. Our focus is obviously to keep on with the job that we're doing in helping Australia recover from this incredible challenge that we've faced.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
I want to move on, Treasurer, to this other news, big news in Australia, that Australian news will soon reappear in Facebook feeds after days of tense negotiations between yourself and Mark Zuckerberg. I think you have had more conversations with him than I have with my mother in the last couple of days. What did you have to back down on in order to reach this agreement?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We put some clarifications in the code. We also made it clear that before final offer arbitration, which was one of the mechanisms in the code, that there would be a period of mediation. Before I, as the Treasurer, designate one of the digital platforms to which the code will apply, I would give them one month's notice and also ahead of making any decision about designating a particular digital platform under the code, I would take into account the commercial deals that have been put in place. Now, one of Channel Nine's competitors announced yesterday that they've reached a letter of intent agreement with Facebook. That is a very positive development. I understand Nine is in the process of ongoing discussions with Facebook and of course Nine and Seven and News Ltd and the Guardian and other players have reached agreements with Google. That’s a very positive development. None of that would have happened without the code being put in place and we're hoping to pass that through the Parliament very shortly.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
And just quickly, do you trust Facebook to make good on these promises?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I certainly take the commitments that Mark Zuckerberg gave me yesterday very seriously. He said that he was going to enter into good faith negotiations with the Australian news media businesses to reach these commercial deals and we saw the product of that engagement just yesterday. Now, we hope to see more deals in coming days. Their activities last week, what they did in pretty much blacking out news media coverage from their platform in Australia was very regrettable and I said at the time it was heavy handed and it was unnecessary. I think we have moved on from there and there's been a series of complex negotiations, difficult negotiations, but I think the outcome of that is that we will see commercial deals but also we will see Australian news media content back on the Facebook platform and that’s a good thing.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Treasurer, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.