Interview with Sarah Harris and Tristan McManus, Studio 10
7 October 2020
SARAH HARRIS: The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, joins us now from Parliament House. Prime Minister, thank you so much for joining us this morning. This is a very different Budget to the much trumpeted Back in Black Budget we saw last year. We're facing nearly a trillion dollars in debt. The big question, whatever happened to those commemorative mugs?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the bigger question is, is how we're getting Australians back into jobs, and that's what this Budget is doing. I mean, a lot has changed since the last Budget. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc all around the world. It's damaged lives and it's damaged livelihoods, not just here in Australia, but everywhere around the world. And that means this Budget has to be very different. This Budget has to step up as we have as a government, as we have from the very start of this crisis with JobKeeper and JobSeeker doubling the social safety net to ensure that Australians and Australian businesses could be able to work their way through what has been the most trying of times since the Second World War. And this Budget now builds on that as we transition to not only just keep people in jobs, but get people back into jobs. 760,000 jobs have already come back and we want, we need to see hundreds of thousands more. And this Budget, which brings forward investment through our tax incentives, which enables Australians to keep more of what they earn, it's not a handout. It's just Australians being able to keep more of what they earn by bringing forward those tax cuts for low and middle income earners. And then on top of that, we move to building the economy for the future with our manufacturing plan. Our energy plan, our investment and training and additional university places and research and development, a billion dollars for further research and universities that will fuel our growth and technology and investment that will be needing to drive jobs over the next decade.
TRISTAN MCMANUS: Thanks Prime Minister, there's a big focus on spending our way out of this mess and there are tax cuts for 11 million Aussies and $500 dollars cash payments for pensioners and carers. But how do you boost consumer confidence?
PRIME MINISTER: By doing exactly these things. See, the plan cushions the blow, which is what we've been doing for many months now. And then it supports the recovery by bringing forward plans, the job hirer credit, the JobMaker, the job hiring credit means that there are payments of $200 dollars a week for those under 30, $100 dollars a week, for those between 30 and 35 for businesses to add those jobs back. Getting people back into work and off welfare is the way that you improve the nation's finances. But more importantly, it's how you improve the confidence and security of Australians. I think Australians waking up this morning, as they would have, and sat around the kitchen table, would have got a clear message from the government and that's, we’re backing you in and so Australians can move forward. This has been a terrible time for Australians through this COVID-19 recession. But Australians are coming out of it. Businesses are reopening. People are getting back into jobs. There's a long way still to go on. I’m particularly pleased that 60 per cent of the jobs that have already come back have been women. And women were the hardest hit. And as well as young people when the COVID-19 recession hit. And that's where we're seeing most of the jobs come back at this stage. We want to see that continue.
HARRIS: All jokes aside Prime Minister, we know that we are living in unprecedented times. You've said that this is the most important Budget since World War Two. And in many ways, we have been fighting an invisible enemy when it comes to COVID-19. But what about and you said you want to get people back into jobs. But what about the long term unemployed? There are a lot of people who've lost their jobs thanks to COVID-19. I understand that you want to get people back into work. But until that happens, what about JobSeeker? Will it revert back to it’s pre-COVID rate next year and a lot of people are asking, how on earth can people live on just forty dollars a day?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've already doubled JobSeeker payment through the COVID supplement, and we've made a further adjustment to that. Where you can earn up to $300, and without it-
HARRIS: But that expires on December 31st doesn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER: And what we’ve clearly said is that as we get closer to that time and we get a better read on what's happening with the economy, we will make a further decision. I've made it pretty clear. I've leaned into the fact that you could expect we'd be continuing that supplement in one form or another, as we get closer to that time we'll make that decision. JobKeeper runs till the end of March. Our income supports are there because the impact of COVID is still there, but we also have to change gear out of it as well. And we'll make those longer term decisions as we move into next year's Budget and as we move into the midyear update, as well. The COVID recession is one that has many uncertainties. And what we've learnt over the course of these past 6 months is you've got to make decisions when you can get the best available information. We've made some changes as at the end of September and we'll see how they go before making further decisions.
MCMANUS: Now, the Treasurer called this the back to work Budget. There are incentives to for businesses to employ young Australians and a billion dollars to up-skill young people. Do you have a message for young Australians who are worried about their future?
PRIME MINISTER: We do. And that is we're getting you back into work and we're already seeing many young Australians get back into work. But it's not just those who are getting back into work, if they're leaving school or looking to get into university or get into training there are 340,000 additional training places through the JobTrainer programme this year. There's 100,000 new apprenticeship places that we've put in this Budget. We continue to support 180,000 apprentices that are already in an apprenticeship right now to keep them in that apprenticeship. And on the tools. So we're investing heavily in education, in training to ensure that Australians, young Australians in particular, can have those choices and be able to plan for their future with confidence. And so they'll play a big role as we come out of the COVID recession. But for older workers as well, some years ago, we put in place the wage subsidy with the hiring incentive for older workers - that's still in place. And we'll continue to support older workers and particularly those who are transitioning. They may have lost their job in say, the aviation industry, or the entertainment or the hospitality industry and those training places are as much there for those Australians as they are for young Australians.
HARRIS: All right. Well, much of the Budget forecasts hinge on an effective COVID-19 vaccine we understand being rolled out next year. Doctors have said that that's pretty ambitious. That's a pretty optimistic timeline. Prime Minister, what happens if there's no silver bullet?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the measures in this Budget are not dependent on whether there's a vaccine or not next year. The hiring credit, the tax cuts brought forward, the investment allowances for business to invest so they could bring forward their investment decisions. The extra JobTraining places and the extra university places. The Women's Economic Security Statement, some 240 million dollars. The funding for roads and for our electricity grid as well as our water grid, that is all there. It's not dependent on whether there's a vaccine or not. The vaccine, whether it turns up next year, well, we'll have to see on the best information, assumptions always made in any Budget. Some will prove to be more cautious. Some will prove to be more optimistic. That's not new for Budgets. I've been involved with many of them and they tend to balance each other out in the way that we budgeted in the past. That was one of the ways we were able to successfully bring the Budget back into balance before we went into this COVID-19 recession, create 1.5 million jobs and to retain our triple-A credit rating.
HARRIS: Prime Minister, we know you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders at the moment, you've got to get Australia out of this budget black hole. And we saw this snap of the Treasurer out last night with a vanilla slice in the foreground, a bit of comfort food to get him through the big night. What did you turn to Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: I actually had a curry last night.
HARRIS: You had a curry!
PRIME MINISTER: Just before the Budget was, I did have a curry, it was a nice satay curry actually.
HARRIS: Not too spicy?
PRIME MINISTER: No it, I didn’t get to cook it though, I like to cook my own curries, but I didn't, I haven't had time lately to do that, just had the time to make the chook pen on the weekend.
HARRIS: Yeah. it wasn’t a chicken curry was it? You’re not down a few chooks are you?
PRIME MINISTER: It was, but not from out of the chook pen, we haven’t got the chooks in there yet. They’ll be laying hens, they won’t be for curries.
MCMANUS: Well good on you.
HARRIS: Well listen, we know you've had a huge night. We do appreciate your time. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, thank you very much for joining us today.
MCMANUS: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much for the opportunity to be with you. All the best.
