Australian Minister Urges States to Step Up Infrastructure Spend

(Bloomberg) -- Australia's federal government is urging its counterparts at state level to contribute more infrastructure spending to help create jobs and revive the economy.

“It is a time to make sure that governments at all levels step up to support the economy,” Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said Sunday on Sky News Australia. The states “could do more to support Australians, to support business, to support jobs to ensure that we all together maximize the strength of the economic and jobs recovery moving forward,” he said.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is set to ditch fiscal restraints and unveil a massive surge in spending to restart the economy when he presents his budget on Oct. 6. The government has signaled the focus will be on creating new jobs and boosting incomes by funding major infrastructure projects and bringing forward tax relief.

The measures are intended “to ensure that Australians can get to keep more of their own money, their hard-earned money, to spend in the economy,” Cormann said. “This has never been more important than during this period as we seek to recover from this crisis.”

Earlier Sunday, the government said it will provide a wage subsidy to encourage businesses to hire as many as 100,000 new apprentices or trainee workers. The A$1.2 billion ($860 million) program will pay for half of an apprentice's wages in the first year.

Cormann said the emphasis on infrastructure in the budget will also address the details on how federal funding for key projects is passed to the states.

“Where we make funding available to build important productivity-enhancing, economy-growing infrastructure we want the states to get on with it,” he said. “If the states are not able or are not willing to get on with it, then we will seek to work with states that are.”

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