Josh Frydenberg defends Thatcher, Reagan inspiration

Josh Frydenberg has defended drawing his economic inspiration from Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg walks through the halls of Parliament House in a face mask the day after his statement on the economy. Picture: Gary Ramage.

Josh Frydenberg has defended drawing inspiration from Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan when it comes to economic reform, declaring the reason the former English Prime Minister and American President were “figures of hate for the Left” is because they were so successful.

Speaking on ABC Insiders on Sunday just days after delivering a special economic update on Thursday the Treasurer defended the Morrison government’s decision to cut the rate of JobSeeker and JobKeeper in October as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the economy.

“Thatcher and Reagan are figures of hate for the left because they were so successful,” Mr Frydenberg said. ”One got two terms, which was the maximum that you can get in the United States. Margaret Thatcher got 11.5 years.”

.@JoshFrydenberg on taking inspiration from Thatcher and Reagan:

"Thatcher and Reagan are figures of hate for the left because they were so successful. One got two terms, which was the maximum that you can get in the US. Margaret Thatcher got 11.5 years." #Insiders #auspol pic.twitter.com/BNBTRd9Cid

— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) July 26, 2020

The Treasurer said that while he took inspiration from a lot of different sources, including former Prime Minister John Howard and predecessor Peter Costello, “the reality is that Thatcher and Reagan cut red tape and cut taxes and delivered stronger economies.”

The claim drew the ire of Australian Council of Trade Union boss Sally McManus on Sunday, who questioned Mr Frydenberg’s sources of inspiration.

She tweeted that Ms Thatcher’s policies were about “crushing worker rights” and the ramifications of her decisions on industrial relations were still being felt by workers in England today.

Margaret Thatcher's policies were about crushing worker rights. Now in the UK there are "zero hours contracts" where you are tied to an employer with no guaranteed hours. Inequality soared. Is this really what Josh Frydenberg wants for Australia? #insiders

— Sally McManus (@sallymcmanus) July 25, 2020

Mr Frydenberg defended cutting the rate of the government’s wage subsidy programs in October when unemployment is still rising, telling Insiders that the decision to split JobKeeper into two payments was made on Treasury advice.

The JobSeeker supplement has been extended beyond its legislated September cut-off date until the end of the year, however the payment amount will be reduced from $550 to $300, delivering $800 per fortnight to those eligible.

“The first thing that I would say is that it is still significant support,” Mr Frydenberg said. “The second thing is that it‘s not been the only measure of support that we’ve been providing to businesses.”

He said the Morrison government was “favourably disposed” to extending the coronavirus wage subsidy payments beyond Christmas.

“We’re favourably disposed to continuing it, but we’ve got to do an assessment of where the jobs market is at that time,” Mr Frydenberg said. “It’s about getting the balance right so that there are incentives for people to return to work, and at the same time, providing the safety net.”

The push to extend labour market flexibility, announced as part of the Morrison government’s special budget update on Thursday, has ignited anger from ­unions and Labor, which ­accuse the Coalition of using the pandemic to leave workers permanently worse off.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers told Sky News he wanted greater certainty on how long the payments would be available.

“Almost two million people will be relying on this payment and need and deserve a bit of certainty about what it is,” he said.

Last week Mr Frydenberg announced the deficit for the 2019/20 financial year was expected to be $85.8 billion. It is forecast to rise to $184.5 billion in 2020/21.