MICHAEL SUKKAR:
Good morning, everyone. Firstly, can I thank the team here at Cameron Group for having the Treasurer and myself visit. It’s been wonderful to have a look around this morning. In particular, can I thank Glen Cameron from Cameron Group and all his team here at the Bayswater North site in the Deakin electorate where the Treasurer and I have been able, as I said, to see the really important work that’s going on here in keeping our supply chains going. Can I also thank Peter Anderson from the Victorian Transport Association for being here as well? The Treasurer and I have been working very closely with the trucking industry, and indeed industry throughout our supply chain over the summer to make sure that the critical goods that Australians rely on every day continue to be there on our shelves. We know it’s an extraordinary challenging time with Omicron, but through the Supply Chains Taskforce that I’ve been working on, with as I said with the Treasurer, and the Minister for Home Affairs, the Health Minister and the Prime Minister, we’ve been working extraordinarily closely with industry, helping them, assisting them in ensuring they can meet their obligations to their customers and, as I said, which means they can ultimately deliver for the Australian people. One of the things that has struck me throughout this process of working on this Supply Chains Taskforce is the dedication that everyday Australian employees, including those here at Cameron Group, have – a real understanding that they are contributing to the national effort. And one of the things that the Treasurer and I really wanted to emphasise today to the whole team here at Cameron Group was just how grateful we are as a Government, but indeed I think the appreciation, the broader appreciation, that Australians have for this industry and indeed everybody working in the supply chains. It’s probably not something Australians have thought of in great deal previously, but there’s a great deal of gratitude that we all have for this industry. And the dedication and hard work of the men and women at places just like Cameron Group is something we’re very grateful for, which is why it’s very disappointing to see reports today - threats from the union movement to work against that national effort, work against that effort being put by the men and women in our supply chain threatening strikes. Now is not the time to be putting those sorts of political interests ahead of what is an important national effort, a national effort to make sure that in the face of Omicron, that we’re able to rise to those challenges. Australia throughout the pandemic has ensured that every challenge that has been put before us we have got above it, risen above it. We’ll do so again, and it will be in no small part due to the men and women working in distribution centres, in trucking, just like the place we’re at today, Cameron Group in Bayswater North. And on that note, I would like to invite Glen Cameron from Cameron Group to say a few words and again record our deep gratitude as a government to him and all of his employees and indeed everybody who works in the industry to keep our goods flowing and to keep goods on our shelves. Glen.
GLEN CAMERON:
It’s great to have the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer here today to show some interest in our industry and the importance of the supply chain to the Australian economy. Pleasure to have them here and it’s just great to be here.
MICHAEL SUKKAR:
Good on you, Glen. Thank you. And perhaps Peter Anderson from the Victorian Transport Association. Peter?
PETER ANDERSON:
Never has the supply chain been recognised as being so important to the community as what it has through this pandemic. It’s important the industry is recognised for the value it contributes to society and to our communities. We’re grateful that the Federal Government is actually recognising this importance and is actually doing something about what is needed to ensure that the companies that deliver the goods to all of us remain viable and operating as efficiently as they can. We’re grateful that the Government is actually recognising the importance of the supply chain and those operators within the supply chain, and we’re pleased that the Treasurer is here with us today.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thanks very much, Michael. It’s great to be here in your electorate and here at Cameron trucking business. I thank you, Michael, for the great work that you are doing through these difficult times in helping to keep these supply chains open. Cameron trucking business is a great Australian success story, nearly 50 years strong, employing nearly 1,000 workers, playing an absolutely critical role in our supply chains. It’s a real credit to all the workers who have done it tough like all Australians have over the last two years, but they put food on our table, they put goods on our shelves and in our shops, and we’re very grateful for their work. It’s good to be here too with Peter from the Victorian Transport Association. They’ve been a great advocate for strong policy in this regard and he’s worked very closely with Michael’s and my good friend and colleague, Scott Buchholz, who’s been the Assistant Minister for Transport and Road Safety and has been doing a lot of work around the trucking industry, including new apprenticeships to get more drivers on the road. We’re here today because it is a critical time for Australia’s supply chains. As we know, Omicron is on the march. Hundreds of thousands of our fellow Australians are getting the virus. It’s a new phase of the virus and no longer are we looking at lockdowns. What we’re doing now is learning to live in as safe a way as possible with the virus: following the medical advice but being pragmatic; having a balanced response ensuring that our response is proportionate to the health risks; seeking the best possible health and economic outcomes. That’s why the Morrison Government has worked with the states and the territories through national cabinet to change the isolation rules to ensure that if you are asymptomatic and you haven’t tested positive, that you can get back to work and you can play an important role, whether it’s in the DC, the distribution centre I was at yesterday in Laverton with Coles, or here at the trucking business or many other businesses across the supply chain. We’re also getting more students into the workforce by giving them the opportunity to work more hours. We’re working with the states on a national plan to open our schools and our childcare centres and to keep them open, because Treasury say that at any one point as this virus reaches its peak, we could see 10 per cent of the workforce that is not on the tools on any particular day, not in the office on any particular day, and that could be five per cent higher if the schools and the childcare centres were closed. That’s why we need to keep them open. We’re also rolling out the booster shots. We’re also rolling out the vaccine, particularly to young people, with 300,000 doses being administered to 5-11 year‑olds in recent days. And we’re working with the states to secure more rapid antigen tests. Some 200 million are now on order. We’ve already provided five million to the aged‑care sector. We’ve got 10 million that’s going to the states to be provided through their state clinics, and we’ve also just seen in recent days three million tests arrive here in Victoria. More of these rapid antigen tests are on their way. But I have a message today to every Australian. If you’re eligible for the booster shot, to go and get it. More than four and a half million booster shots have already been administered, but there are 24 million doses that are here in stock. If you’re eligible, go and get the booster shot. And also, if you are symptomatic, if you are feeling sick, go to a state clinic. Get a test at no cost to you. The Commonwealth and the States and the Territories will pick up those costs. You can get a PCR test or a rapid antigen test and then take the necessary steps after that. If you’re not at work, then you will be eligible for the pandemic leave disaster payment, which is up to $750 a week from the Morrison Government. We’re working across so many areas of the economy to ensure that our workforce can remain intact through these very difficult times. Australians have good reason to be confident and optimistic about the underlying strength of the Australian economy. Unemployment today is at 4.6 per cent and new payroll jobs data is showing that despite 2.3 million Australians being on the COVID disaster payments while we had lockdowns, when that came to an end, only 23,000 out of 2.3 million people actually went onto JobSeeker. It was a very smooth transition to see businesses get back to doing what they do best and workers getting back on the job. And that showed that those emergency support payments were ended at exactly the right time. The labour market is strong. The overall projections for the economy are positive, but we are in the middle of the pandemic and we are dealing with some very difficult times. Finally, we’ve seen today the unions intimidate and threaten strikes and tell falsehoods and lies about letting it rip and the virus being allowed to let rip. It’s absolutely false and it’s fearmongering at exactly the wrong time. Strikes at this time would be the wrong action at the wrong time. It would punish workers, it would punish businesses and, ultimately, it would punish Australian families. And it’s up to Anthony Albanese to stand up to the unions and say, “no”, that that is exactly the wrong idea at exactly the wrong time. We need to bring Australians together right now. And it’s not about a choice between a person’s job and their health; it is about protecting jobs based on the best medical advice. I make the point to the unions that the national cabinet, Liberal and Labor governments, their leaders, state and federal, agreed to change the isolation requirements based on the advice of chief medical officers. We’re seeking to protect people’s jobs and to keep the workforce going, and at the same time do it in a COVID‑safe way. This type of intimidation and threats has no place at this time in the middle of a pandemic. Are there any questions?
FIONA WILLAN:
Hi Treasurer. Thanks for taking our question. Yeah, so as you just mentioned, unions are threatening strike action. Is the government to blame for the feud between unions and business groups over rapid tests because of failure to ensure there are enough supplies?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The first thing I’d say is that Australia is in a very strong position on both the health and the economic front. We should not lose sight of the international context and the fact that Australia has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world, one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, over 92 per cent of eligible Australians over 16 have received a double dose. In the vulnerable cohorts, like the over 70s, 99 per cent of Australians have received a double dose. The booster shots are being rolled out with nation‑wide program. The vaccines to younger people are being rolled out and we have 200 million rapid antigen tests on order, and we saw three million arrive just in recent days in Victoria. There’s no perfect response. There’s no rule book to a pandemic and to the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression. But if you look at those health outcomes, mortality rates and vaccination rates, Australia is in a strong position. And when it comes to our economy, we’ve seen better employment outcomes in Australia, better growth outcomes in Australia than nearly any other advanced economy in the world. That’s something that all Australians can be proud of. That’s the workers here at Cameron trucking business or at the distribution centre yesterday. It’s our selfless health workers on the front‑line who are doing such an amazing job. It’s our teachers and it’s our families. Everyone is coming together at this time and I think everyone could be proud of what we have achieved. There are pressures on supply chains, Fiona. There are rapid antigen tests that are on order and they are coming but Australia. But it is a very difficult time, and it is a time that Australians come together but one that we can also be proud of what we’ve achieved so far together.
FIONA WILLAN:
Will any of those tests that are on order from the Government, will any of those actually go towards businesses to help them test their staff?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Absolutely businesses are ordering tests. I know the business I’m at right now has ordered tests and is providing it to its staff. Yesterday, at Coles, they were providing rapid antigen tests to their staff. There are businesses that are providing those tests to their staff. But, as I said, if you are sick, or you’re showing the symptoms of COVID, you can turn up at a state clinic right away and get tested at no cost to yourself. We have to recognise the rapid antigen tests are one piece of a much broader jigsaw here, and we are providing support right across the board including funding these tests. So far with respect to PCR tests, we, as a Commonwealth, have put in $2.5 billion already; 53 million tests have been provided. We’ve been picking up the tab for the Medicare tests in full and then we’re going 50–50 with the states on the state clinics. We’ve been providing tests right through from the start of this pandemic.
FIONA WILLAN:
Is the Government considering asking National Cabinet to scrap isolation requirements for all close contacts, not just essential workers?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We’re keeping it under review. The isolation requirements that we have at present. The chief medical officers continue to work through these issues. I do note that a number of other countries around the world have actually reduced the isolation requirements even for those who have tested positive from 7 or 10 days down to 5 days. It’s important that we keep monitoring our settings and it’s never set and forget. This pandemic changes. We’re in a new phase now compared to the Delta phase and that was a new phase compared to the previous one. So too, the responses are different. And we know from the health professionals that Omicron is 75 per cent less severe than Delta. It’s highly transmissible but less severe, so it’s important that our settings are also pragmatic and proportional to that health risk.
FIONA WILLAN:
Do you foresee a point this year when Australians with COVID won’t have to isolate?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Again, we keep all our settings under review, recognising that the pandemic is changing. We’re entering new phases. I can’t tell you, Fiona, whether the Omicron variant is the last variant or whether there will be another one. We just don’t know. No‑one has a crystal ball. But what I can tell you is that the Government will do everything possible to help support the Australian community on both the health and the economic front.
FIONA WILLAN:
I’ve just got something through from Channel Ten so I’m just going to have a look at it. Can I get your reaction – I don’t know if you have seen the polling in the SMH today. It shows that the Coalition has slumped in the primary vote over summer. It looks like backlash to the handling of Omicron. Are you concerned that voters will turn against the Government over the way it’s handled Omicron when it comes to voting?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We’re in the first set of a five‑set match, and polls will come and go. But what we do know is that the election will be later this year, and it will be a very clear contest between the Liberal and National Parties in coalition against Labor and the Greens in coalition. And it will be a contest too between Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese. Anthony Albanese has stood for higher taxes throughout his whole career and no‑one should believe him now when he’s promising not a retirees’ tax or a housing tax that he did at the last election in which he was proud and he was pleased of those policies. Labor’s refused to rule out more taxes. We saw that just yesterday from Jim Chalmers when he’s talking about making the tax system fairer. That’s a code word from Labor’s Jim Chalmers for higher taxes. He was out there saying that they was proud and he was pleased of the retirees’ tax and the housing tax and Labor’s superannuation tax and higher income taxes. That’s their the record – higher taxes. That will be a very clear fault line at the next election. And Australians can also look at Australia’s economic performance and our health performance through this crisis, and they know that the Government has done everything possible to keep Australians safe in what has been a once‑in‑a‑century pandemic and the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression. We’re one set into a five‑set match. There’s a long way to go. The polls will come and go, but, as the Prime Minister has said, we’re coming from behind. Thank you.