How NSW residents can get $750 payment

Sydney residents stuck in lockdown without work will receive a $750 a week disaster payment. Here is how to apply.

Sydneysiders stuck in lockdown without work will receive a boost to their disaster payment, the Prime Minister has announced.

From Thursday the Covid-19 Disaster Payment will be raised to $750 per week for those who typically work over 20 hours, and $450 for individuals under 20 hours.

“We will be further increasing the levels of support provided to individuals through the Covid Disaster Payment right across the state of New South Wales. We will be increasing from next week the maximum payment of $600 to $750 and we will be increasing the payment for less than 20 hours from $375 to $450,” Scott Morrison said.

Individuals who receive welfare payments such as Youth Allowance and pension payments who have lost more than eight hours a week of work due to the Covid lockdowns, will also be eligible for $200 a week in emergency payments.

The benefit will start from next week, with applications set to open on the Services Australia website on Tuesday.

Mr Morrison said the government had been working with the NSW government to come to an agreement on the support payments.

“Over the course of the last several days, indeed up to a week, the federal government has been working on a program of additional support that may have been required should Sydney have gone into a further lockdown,” he said.

“That meant last night we were able to bring to the table the enhanced measures that we were able to agree to last night.”

The increase brings the payment in line with the original JobKeeper amount but Mr Morrison insisted the change should not be read as a revival of the wage subsidy.

“What we are doing now is faster, it is more effective, it is more targeted, it is getting help where it is needed, far more quickly,” he said.

“We are not dealing with a pandemic outbreak across the whole country. When we did JobKeeper, we had to employ it across the whole country.

“What we need now is to be focused effort on where the need is right now, and so it can be turned on and off to the extent that we have outbreaks that occur. JobKeeper did not have that flexibility.”