‘Malevolent’: Victoria’s extraordinary swipe at PM over tradie support

The Victorian treasurer has ripped into the federal government for not supporting the construction sector during Victoria’s latest lockdown.

The Victorian treasurer has ripped into the federal government for not supporting the construction sector during Victoria’s latest lockdown, taking a swipe at the “Prime Minister for NSW” for being “malevolent”.

The sector is set for a cash injection from the state government with almost $200 million in grants, Mr Pallas announced on Saturday.

But Mr Pallas took aim at the federal government’s “blatant favourable treatment towards NSW”, accusing Scott Morrison of being “churlish and small-minded” in the financial support given to the construction sector in each state in recent weeks.

Mr Pallas claimed the Prime Minister had been more supportive of tradies in NSW than in Victoria, following the southern state’s two-week shutdown of the sector amid violent protests.

Treasurer of Victoria Tim Pallas ripped into the federal government over its support of Victorian tradies on Saturday. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

“What’s incredibly disappointing about this is a federal government who have sought to be miserly with money, or malevolent in terms of preferential treatment against people and businesses who are all doing it tough,” he said.

“Data released yesterday shows that NSW received $6.15 billion in Covid disaster payments, compared to $2.4 billion in Covid payments for Victoria.

“In the week to the 26th of September they received 85 per cent more in Covid disaster payments than Victoria.”

He said Victoria contributed about 25 per cent of the nation’s GDP, against NSW’s 35 per cent.

“It is quite unfair what‘s happening here,” he said

The construction shutdown will end in Victoria on Tuesday.

The grants announced Saturday will provide a one-off payment to eligible businesses, including sole traders, hurt by restrictions from September 21 to October 4.

They will cover about 70,000 business in Melbourne, Geelong, the Surf Coast and Mitchell shire, Mr Pallas said.

Victoria claimed Prime Minister Scott Morrison “refused” to contribute to grants to support the construction industry. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The ‘Business Costs Assistance Program Round Four – Construction’ grants will offer eligible non-employing sole trader businesses a one-off payment of $2000.

The payments increase to $2800 for businesses with an annual payroll of up to $650,000; $5,600 for a payroll of $650,000 to $3 million; and $8,400 for a payroll of $3 million-$10 million.

Mr Pallas claimed the grants would have been doubled if the federal government had not “refused” to contribute to their roll-out.

He said it was “a point of great disappointment” that the federal government did not co-fund the payment with the state.

“We are going to step up and play our part in assisting this industry but we are very, very unhappy that the Commonwealth Government broke with its practice of co-funding business support packages in Victoria and refused to contribute to this industry,” he said.

In response, federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said his Victorian counterpart’s spray was “not supported by the facts”.

He said the federal government had paid out more to Victorians than any other state across the whole of the pandemic with more than $50 billion “out the door”.

“The Morrison government is currently delivering around twice the amount of economic support to Victorian households and businesses than the state government is providing,” he said.

“Workers including construction workers continue to have access to the Covid disaster payment.

The Morrison government has paid $2.8 billion to around 700,000 Victorians through the Covid disaster payment. It is a demand driven program. Victoria’s recent lockdown has gone for just over 8 weeks whereas NSW has been in lockdown for over 13 weeks.”

“The Morrison government has stood with Victorians every step of the way through this crisis. The vaccination targets of 70-80 per cent are now in sight enabling the economy to safely reopen and Victorians to get their lives back.”

Originally published as ‘Malevolent’: Victoria’s extraordinary swipe at PM over tradie support