'I think you are being cynical today': Furious Josh Frydenberg's stinging response to Leigh Sales after being grilled about his criticism of past Labor deficits while allowing debt to soar past $1TRILLION
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has hit back at Leigh Sales after a post-budget grilling on ABC's 7.30.
Mr Frydenberg raced straight to the interview after delivering his Budget speech to the House on Tuesday night, where he announced a deficit ballooning to a record $213.7billion in 2020-21.
During the tense exchange Sales repeatedly pressed the Treasurer on his party's past criticisms of Labor over budget deficits.
'Net debt this year is going to be $703billion, by June 2024 it will be a trillion, in the 2008-9 financial year and the years after the Coalition then attacked the then-Labor government on the grounds that debt and deficit were signs of incompetence and mismanagement,' she said.
'Why shouldn't I apply the same argument to you?'
After a tense exchange Mr Frydenberg snapped back: 'I think you are being cynical today.
Leigh Sales fired off questions to the Treasurer on Tuesday night and repeatedly pressed him on his party's past criticisms of Labor over budget deficits
'To be honest we are dealing with a once in a century pandemic. Australia's GDP has fallen by 7% in the June quarter, a record amount.
'If you turn to New Zealand, it's fallen by more than 12%. If you turn to France, it is around 14%.
'If you turn to the United Kingdom it is by more than 20%. Our net debt to GDP, even after all the spending in this budget will peak at 44%.'
Sales continued to question the Treasurer and asked if the Australian public could be 'treated like adults' and given the facts.
'Treasurer I am just trying to get the facts for the Australian public and look back historically,' she said.
During the heated exchange, the pair also discussed the new JobMaker hiring credit with Sales questioning why the subsidy was capped at those aged 35.
The payment will encourage businesses to employ people aged between 16-35 with the credit being paid at a rate of $200 a week for those under 30, and $100 per week for those between 30 and 35.
To be eligible, the employee will need to have worked for a minimum of 20 hours per week, averaged over a quarter, and received the JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance or Parenting Payment for at least one month out of the three months prior to when they are hired.
'We settled on 35, because young people have been particularly impacted by this crisis, and also because of the history of previous recessions in Australia, in the 1980s and 90s, it took a while for jobs to come back,' Mr Frydenberg said.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was caught in a fiery exchange with ABC's Leigh Sales on Tuesday night following his Budget speech
The JobKeeper payment is set to be abolished in March after already having been extended for six months.
Sales asked the Treasurer if it would be beneficial for the payment to be extended beyond this date for Victoria after the state suffered a second deadly wave of COVID-19 cases.
'Well, again, Victorians are benefiting most from the government’s decision to extend JobKeeper,' the Treasurer said.
Mr Frydenberg said 60 per cent of those on the payment in the December to March quarter were expected to be from Victoria.
'We have put out around $28billion to Victoria through a range of measures and Victoria made their own announcements,' he said.
'Treasury believes nearly 1million new jobs will be created by the measures in this budget and what happening across the economy over the next few years.'
In conclusion Sales posed the question if Mr Frydenberg would ever deliver a surplus after claiming the budget would be 'back in the black' during an interview last year.
'I’m not putting a date on that,' the Treasurer said.
'The reality is we printed a series of deficits tonight and at a higher debt burden but this has been the heavy price to save lives and livelihoods.
'We had no other alternative but to spend as we have and it has helped make Australia a stronger nation and helped see Australia come through this crisis nearly better than any other developed economy across the world.'
Sign of the times: Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg celebrate the 2020 Federal Budget with an elbow bump
As announced in the Budget on Tuesday night, tax cuts earmarked for 2022 will be backdated to July 2020 and will see workers pocket a cash boost of up to $99 a fortnight.
The $1,080 low and middle income tax offset will be kept for this year, giving Aussies earning between $50,000 and $90,000 a total annual deduction of $2,160 and maximum benefit of $2,745 for those on $120,000.
Mr Frydenberg also announced huge tax breaks for small business owners who are allowed to completely write off new assets on the taxman for one year.
Small business owners will also be able to claw back thousands in tax with a new loss carry back scheme.
Despite the growing mountain of debt, Mr Frydenberg provided a message of hope to Australians who are doing it tough.
'There remains a monumental task ahead. But there is hope. Our plan will grow the economy, create jobs and guarantee the services Australians rely on,' he said in his speech.
The government predicts the entire nation will not be vaccinated until the end of 2021, meaning overseas travel will 'remain low' until then.
In a boost for local tourism, the government expects every state border to be open by Christmas, except Western Australia which it believes will remain closed until the day after its election on March 31.
Companies that turn over less than $5billion year (virtually all businesses, no doubt including this cafe) can buy a new asset of unlimited value – such as a truck or piece of machinery – and expense the whole cost to the taxman for one year
Social distancing is likely to be kept in place through to 2022.
It was also announced that companies that turn over less than $5billion a year (virtually every business in the country) can buy a new asset of unlimited value– such as a truck or piece of machinery – and expense the whole cost to the taxman for one year.
The measure will apply to assets purchased from 7.30pm on Tuesday and first used or installed by 30 June 2022.
Around 3.5 million businesses – more than 99 per cent of businesses, employing around 11.5 million workers - will be eligible for this measure, which builds on the enhanced $150,000 instant asset write-off announced in March.
Mr Frydenberg expects the jobless rate will peak at eight per cent in the December quarter, reflecting an economy battered by the COVID-19 lockdown in Victoria and ongoing international and domestic border restrictions.
But by June 2022, unemployment is forecast to drop back to 6.5 per cent, and keep falling, the federal budget released on Tuesday shows.
The 2020/21 forecast is for an unemployment rate of 7.25 per cent, followed by 6.5 per cent the following year and six per cent and 5.5 per cent in the next two years.
The government claims a recovery of sorts is already under way, because almost 60 per cent of the 1.3 million who lost their jobs or were stood down during the worst of the pandemic are now back at work.
A SUMMARY OF THE 2020 FEDERAL BUDGET
ECONOMY
* Budget deficit of $213.7 billion in 2020/21
* Deficit narrows to $112 billion in 2021/22, $87.9 billion in 2022/23 and $66.9 billion in 2023/24
* Commonwealth net debt to rise to $703.2 billion in 2020/21 before hitting $966.2 billion in 2023/24
* Economic growth to fall by 1.5 per cent in 2020/21 before expanding by 4.75 per cent in 2021/22
* Unemployment rate of 7.25 per cent in 2020/21, before falling to 6.5 per cent the following year
* Inflation as measured by CPI to be 1.75 per cent in 2020/21
TAXATION
* Extra $12.5 billion in personal income tax relief over the next 12 months
* In 2020/21, low and middle income earners will get tax relief of up to $2,745 for singles and up to $5,490 for dual income families
* When the plan is fully rolled out in 2024/25 around 95 per cent of taxpayers will have a marginal tax rate of 30 per cent or less
* A $2 billion research and development tax incentive to apply from July 1, 2021
BUSINESS
* From budget night to June 20, 2022, businesses with a turnover up to $5 billion will be able to deduct the full cost of eligible depreciable assets of any value in the year they are installed.
* Loss 'carry-back' will also be available to around one million companies, with losses incurred up to 2021/22 carried back against profits made in or after 2018/19.
* Changes to fringe benefits tax
* Small and medium businesses can access up to 10 tax concessions
HOUSING
* An extra 10,000 places in 2020/21 under the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme to buy a new home or newly-built home
* These first home buyers can secure a loan with a deposit of as little as five per cent, with the government guaranteeing up to 15 per cent of a loan
* $1 billion increase in the government guarantee to the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation to support more affordable housing
INFRASTRUCTURE
* Boosting infrastructure spending to $110 billion over the decade
THE BUSH
* $328 million to help agricultural exporters and the recovery from drought, bushfires and COVID-19
* Digital platforms to make it easier for exporters to access overseas markets
* $550 million regional package to support tourism, rural health workforce, manufacturing and technology
YOUNG WORKERS
* JobMaker hiring credit to support around 450,000 people aged between 16 and 35 get into work, at a cost to the budget of $4 billion
* The credit of up to $200 a week will be available to employers for each new job they create over the next 12 months
* $1 billion JobTrainer fund will support up to 340,700 free or low-fee training places
* $1.2 billion to subsidise apprentice wages
WOMEN
* $240.4 million package to deliver job opportunities, support parents and increase participation in STEM industries
HEALTH
* $4.9 billion in health measures to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, including support for hospitals, protective equipment and vaccines and treatments
* $750 million for COVID-19 testing
* $112 million to continue Medicare-funded telehealth
* Extra $746.3 million to support senior Australians in aged care, workers and providers to respond to the pandemic
PENSIONERS
* $2.6 billion for two additional payments of $250 to pensioners and other eligible recipients
ENVIRONMENT
* $249.6 million over four years to modernise recycling infrastructure, reduce waste and recycle more
* $47.4 million ocean health package
* $29.1 million to clean up contaminated land
SUPERANNUATION
* Ability to keep your superannuation fund when you shift employers, effectively 'stapling' the fund to the worker
SECURITY
* Extra $201.5 million to deliver a cyber security strategy, with new investment in training
- Australian Associated Press