‘The government has looked out of puff’: Neil Mitchell says the Morrison government faces a big economic challenge

The Morrison government is celebrating after a surprise election win, but the government has a big economic challenge ahead, Neil Mitchell says.

“The government has got a lot to do … We’ve got problems,” the 3AW Mornings host said.

“The government has looked out of puff. It needs to be united, it needs to get things moving on wages, on the economy.”

“We are headed for very tough economic times.

“The government needs to be ready and across it.”

The 3AW Mornings host spoke to new treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who he dubbed “the energiser bunny of the federal election”.

Mr Frydenberg acknowledged that economic pressures are building both domestically and internationally, and said the government will need a strong economic policy.

“There’s escalating trade tensions between the United States and China. China is our number one trading partner and the United States is our number one investor. One-in-five Australian jobs are related to trade, Neil, so it’s really important that we see calmness prevail in those trade conflicts,” he said.

“Domestically the impact of the floods in Queensland particularly, but also the drought in NSW and Queensland, has had an impact, with farm GDP down about 5 to 6 percent. We’ve also seen a slow down in the housing market and that’s why it was important not to have Labor’s housing tax and that’s why we announced during the campaign the support for first home buyers.”

Press PLAY below to hear Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on air with Neil Mitchell.