VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
Treasurer, Mr. Frydenberg, good morning.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Good morning.
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
I’d like to start with what we heard yesterday from some of the people in Cobargo, a beautiful little town on the South Coast of NSW, that was utterly destroyed by fire and that we know two people lost their lives. This is the response of some of the locals in Cobargo, when the Prime Minister visited yesterday afternoon.
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VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
We need more help, and of course a lot more you might say, vituperative comments from others as they saw the Prime Minister arrive. Josh Frydenberg there’s been a strong sense that the Prime Minister has been missing in action, do you think that’s fair?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Absolutely wrong. The Prime Minister has been fully engaged talking to State Premiers, talking to the Head of the Australian Defence Force, working with Emergency Management Australia and trying to get the resources to the people who need it most. And I think you heard it most clearly there from Daniel Andrews himself who described the situation, whether it’s in Cobargo, whether it’s in Mallacoota or other places across our state and our country, these are very raw, difficult, tense and trying times and the Prime Minister has delivered the support that Daniel Andrews’ needs and in particular, the ADF is out there. Yesterday I was in the State Control Centre getting a briefing from the Defence Force and Emergency Management Australia and our naval vessels and our border force vessels are now moving people off Mallacoota to safer ground.
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
It was surprising to see the Prime Minister on New Year’s Day posing for photographs with the cricket team the morning after that disaster had swept through the south coast of NSW. You go back a long way, I do too. The first Prime Minister that I remember is Bob Hawke and I can’t think of a single Prime Minister who would not have been out there amongst it the next day in communities, meeting CFA people, meeting volunteers, meeting the victims, being in the communities. Let’s just be frank for a moment – it is surprising that it’s taken this number of days to see the Prime Minister out there, isn’t it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
No, because firstly he has been out there, he’s been meeting with communities for some time because as you know these fires have been going for weeks, if not months. I spoke to him already this morning and he’s landed in Sale, he’ll be meeting with communities here in Victoria today. He’s already spoken to the Premiers of both NSW and Victoria this morning as well as working with the Defence Force to get further and more assets into the field, as is required. From the Commonwealth’s perspective, we have triggered our disaster plans, we’ve got emergency payments being made, we’re providing extra ADF and emergency support…
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
I’m sorry to interrupt, I apologise but I’ll have to jump in there because it was very clear that it took quite some time for the Commonwealth to come to the line there on the payments to the volunteers, a much longer period of time than it should have. On reflection, you’ll look back on that with a degree of regret won’t you, that it took this period of time for, just in that one instance, for those volunteer payments to be gavelled through?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well there is support for volunteers but there’s also significant support for hardship, for people who’ve lost belongings and indeed lost homes and there’s support for local councils, there’s a whole range of disaster recovery payments and recovery allowances Virginia, so it’s not just the support that we’re providing to those volunteer firefighters in terms of income loss but also support for other members of our community who have lost properties.
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
Is it the case now that perhaps the Prime Minister and the wider Government has snookered itself if you like about speaking with these communities directly and honestly about the situation, the unprecedented situation we all find ourselves in, because of your reluctance to embrace the entire reality of what human induced climate change has brought about? Is that part of the reluctance of the Prime Minister to go into these communities and have those tough conversations?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, in terms of climate change we have our international commitments and we have a series of policies that are designed to meet those commitments but what matters most to these communities right now is what level of support can we get to them and that’s what you’ve heard from the Premier…
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
…Indeed, but the issue is that if you’re reluctant to talk about that, in the way that the Young Liberals it seems yesterday, now want you Federals to actually embrace the issue of climate change, in a way that they say, this is your own party of course, Young Liberals saying that you haven’t, doesn’t that make it difficult then to go in and have an honest conversation about how we’ve ended up in this situation in the first place?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, climate change is real. We take it very seriously. We need a series of policies that we have put in place and then of course we’re working with State Governments and we’re working on developing new technologies. There’s a whole host of areas that make up the Government’s response to climate change but in terms of responding to these fires, I think you want to distinguish between the broader issues such as climate change and what is immediately required for what is a very terrifying situation for so many people.
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
We’ll talk again I’m sure, many opportunities coming up. But we’re very pleased that you could join us today Josh Frydenberg. Thanks so much.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you.