Coronavirus Australia: JobKeeper payment could remain at higher level due to Victoria crisis

Plans to slash the JobKeeper payment from $1500 to $1200 could now be abandoned in the wake of the “Victorian wave” of coronavirus.

Plans to slash the JobKeeper payment from $1500 to $1200 in September could now be abandoned in the wake of the second wave of coronavirus infections in Victoria.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has left the door open to even further changes, ahead of an announcement later today about the design of the scheme required due to the situation in Melbourne.

One of the future tweaks could be to scrap the new turnover test, which was announced just weeks ago.

But government sources have also raised the prospect that the Victorian Government would be asked to ‘top up’ the payment in the state, to ensure that the same flat rate applied across the country and ensure the state shared the load.

Under the new changes it will be easier for businesses to qualify and for full-time and part-time workers hired after March 1 to qualify for the scheme.

Asked whether the decision to phase down the payment from $1500 to $1200 could also be scrapped, Senator Cormann wasn’t ruling it out.

“Well, in terms of these Stage 4 restrictions, (JobKeeper) still keeps going at $1500 to the end of September,’’ he said.

“But we will continue to review it and make decisions going forward. We all want to see Victoria get on top of this outbreak as soon as possible.”

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Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Picture Gary Ramage

Asked again if it was a “live option” to leave the payment at the original $1500 rate, Senator Cormann said it was possible.

The Morrison Government only announced the plan to slash the rate from $1500 to $1200 on July 21.

“Currently the arrangements are as they are, but as we have demonstrated again today we continue to make decisions based on how this situation continues to evolve,’’ he said.

“And if further decisions have to be made down the track they will be made.”

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said today that over the September quarter an estimated four million Australian workers would be relying on JobKeeper due to the coronavirus outbreak.

At its peak, around 1.5 million workers in Melbourne will rely on the JobKeeper payments as stand down pay or as a supplement to their income.

“That’s nearly half the private sector workforce in Victoria,’’ Mr Frydenberg said. “Victorians will make up half the workers who are on JobKeeper.

During an interview to spruik the changes, the Prime Minister Scott Morrison said JobKeeper would help protect millions of jobs.

“Yes, saving lives and saving livelihoods, the JobKeeper program is there when the virus hits and it’s hit hard in Victoria in particular. I mean, these changes apply right across the country, by the way, not just in Victoria,’’ he said.

“And there’ll be some additional people who get access to it, we expect in other states and territories. But it’s principally Victoria.

“It takes the total bill now over $100 billion dollars. But it’s been one of the most successful programs of its kind in the world.