SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Treasurer, good morning to you. A few reasons to smile this morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning, Sylvia. Well, Queensland tourism businesses have got a great Christmas present this morning with the reopening of Queensland borders. This is good news for Queensland and it’s good news for Australia’s economy. More than 200,000 people are employed in Queensland’s tourism businesses, and it’s worth more than $20 billion a year. So for Queensland to be beautiful one day and perfect the next they need to keep their borders open, and this is great news.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
So Queensland’s Treasurer claims that 120,000 jobs will be created over the next 18 months. They’re desperately needed. Where will those jobs be?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, obviously we’re creating jobs right across the economy. We’ve seen jobs coming back in manufacturing, in retail, in hospitality and obviously with the borders reopening in tourism as well. So Queensland will be no different to other states that have seen a strong rebound in the jobs market – 350,000 jobs have been created already since the start of September. There are more than 250,000 job ads that are out there. And even after this first COVID recession in Australia and the first recession we’ve seen in nearly 30 years, the unemployment rate today, Sylvia, is actually lower than when we came to government, and we want to get it lower still, so that’s our focus – creating more jobs.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Treasurer, Annastacia Palaszczuk hasn’t been able to promise absolutely rock solid that the border will stay open for good now. Does that worry you?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I think it’s important for all the state Premiers to keep the momentum in the economic recovery going. And what they can do to help that happen is to actually keep their borders open. They need to stay calm and carry on and not get spooked by the Omicron variant. We obviously took a decision to pause for two weeks the opening up of those international borders to more skilled workers and international students. That was a precautionary measure. But what we’ve seen early on with the Omicron variant is that it is transmissible but the suggestion is it’s probably less severe than other variants. And this is encouraging news. And we’ve already seen right across the country that people are getting on with their lives even though the virus is in the community. And there’s been a reduction in hospitalisations, a reduction in deaths, and that’s because the vaccine has been a very effective defence against the virus.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Australia’s booster shot program – this was big news on the weekend – has been fast tracked to help contain the Omicron variant. How will that affect our return to normality?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, there’s an additional two million Australians who will be able to now get that booster shot before Christmas. More than 750,000 people have already had that booster shot. We’ve got plenty of vaccines here in Australia – the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccine which are both available as the booster shot. So this is good news. More people will get that extra layer of defence against the virus. And, of course, we’ve already seen nearly 90 per cent of people now being fully vaccinated, which is very strong.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
That’s very strong indeed, isn’t it. Now the government, we hear this morning, is extending its small business loan scheme. How long is it being extended for, and what exactly will be available to businesses?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
So we’re extending these loans for small businesses that have a turnover of under $250 million. They can get loans of up to $5 million for up to 10 years’ duration. It can be secured or unsecured. It can be used to refinance existing loans or if you’re a manufacturer upgrade your production line, if you’re a tradie go and get some new tools, if you’re a café, to go and get a new kitchen. These loans we’ve had in place since the start of in the pandemic. It’s gone through a few iterations, but basically we’re guaranteeing these loans 50‑50 with the banks in order to support the recovery. And they’ll go out til June next year. So for an additional six months than originally planned.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Okay, and the SMH this morning is reporting that more tax cuts are on the cards early next year. So who’s in line for those cuts?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I’m not going to add to that speculation around the budget, which is scheduled for the end of March next year. But as you know, Sylvia, we’ve sought to cut taxes at every opportunity for the Australian people, and we’ve delivered that. We saw in the September quarter alone more than $10 billion in tax relief go to more than 11 million Australians. We’ve seen small business taxes come down to their lowest levels in 50 years. We’ve provided business investment incentives that’s going to see investment up 16 per cent on what was originally forecast. And we’ve also sought to provide other support for households in many other ways, like the JobKeeper program, which has helped keep people in jobs. So at every turn, at every step of the way through this crisis the Morrison government has been there for Australian families and businesses.
SYLVIA JEFFREYS:
Okay, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much.