Prime Minister and Finance Minister face backlash over Covid-19 disaster payment

The Prime Minister is facing increased scrutiny after critics say he left the decision to splash more cash to struggling Aussies too late.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Finance Minister Simon Birmingham are facing backlash after it was announced Sydneysiders in lockdown without work will receive a cash boost to their disaster payment.

While many welcomed the extra payment, they claimed others had been left “abandoned”, with Mr Birmingham facing a grilling on The Project with host Waleed Aly.

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 those who work under 20 hours, matching the levels of the initial JobKeeper scheme.

“We will be further increasing the levels of support provided to individuals through the Covid Disaster Payment right across the state of NSW,” Mr Morrison said.

“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.”

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a press conference in Parliament House Canberra.

In a statement after the announcement, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) said the Morrison Government had “finally relented to pressure”, criticising the late decision which came more than a month after Sydney first went into lockdown.

“The Morrison Government has been dragged kicking and screaming into increasing the money provided through disaster payments,” ACTU president Michele O’Neil said.

“For many workers living in NSW who lost their livelihoods more than a month ago, it’s come far too late.

“We welcome the Morrison Government finally lifting the rates of support – but JobKeeper saved jobs and provided the security of knowing that you had a job to return to.

“Workers in NSW, and workers who will be affected by ongoing lockdowns, need that security.”

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 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.

“The whole point of this is that people aren’t able to earn that extra income they were earning and these payments are there to support them to ensure that there is some recognition of that, that they have been prevented from doing that,” Mr Morrison said.

“And this will provide them some additional support.”

We’re providing new and additional financial support from next week to people in NSW who have lost work to help them get through this extended lockdown. Read more: https://t.co/k8C9e7kX8hpic.twitter.com/DH1iiD0tdW

— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) July 28, 2021

On @RNDrive ACOSS CEO @cassandragoldie says the big message is ‘stay at home’ but people on lowest incomes excluded from disaster payments are facing homelessness #auspol

— ACOSS (@ACOSS) July 28, 2021

Australian Council of Social Service CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie welcomed the extra $200 payment, but expressed “alarm” that those with the very least have still been “abandoned”.

“The lockdown prevents everyone on social security payments from being able to find paid work – they all need this support,” Dr Goldie said in a statement.

“For all its talk of us all being in this together, the Government is dividing communities by providing financial support to some and leaving others who have the least behind them facing destitution on $44 a day.

“The Government is again abandoning those who need the support the most – people living on Jobseeker at $44 a day who have being trying to find paid work but have not been able to secure it.

“Youth Allowance is even less, at $36 a day. Most people’s rent alone is far more than $36 a day.

“This is a serious public health emergency – you can’t stay at home if you can’t afford to keep a roof over your head.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has just extended the Sydney lockdown by four weeks. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Federal Finance Minister Simon Birmingham has come under fire over the Covid emergency assistance. Picture: Gary Ramage

Despite increasing pressure to bring back “JobKeeper 2”, Mr Morrison said it did not have the “agility” needed in the current outbreak.

“When we did JobKeeper, we had to employ it across the whole country all at once and we did it for six months.

“What we need now is the 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. It did not have that agility.”

The Project grills Finance Minister

While on The Project, Mr Birmingham refuted claims employees were being let go, claiming he hadn’t seen the “evidence” in a heated discussion with host Waleed Aly.

Aly questioned Mr Birmingham on reports the application process for payments were “incredibly arduous and complicated”, claiming some people are waiting up to five hours on the phone.

“Then at the end of that, they have to go into Centrelink, potentially in a lockdown when ideally you wouldn’t want them going anywhere, why would you set up a system that’s so arduous and inefficient?”

Mr Birmingham argued more than 90 per cent of claims were being successfully submitted online.

“Around a million claims have been successfully processed. People are receiving that money quite quickly”.

Aly interjected: “Do you have data on giving up”?

“Waleed what we know is the vast majority are successfully getting through and if there are specific cases then people should reach out.”

New South Wales has recorded its worst day yet since this outbreak began five weeks ago, forcing Premier Gladys Berejiklian to extend the state’s lockdown by another month. #TheProjectTVpic.twitter.com/0Ozjrzbj1c

— The Project (@theprojecttv) July 28, 2021

NSW recorded its worst day since the outbreak began on Wednesday, with 177 new cases across the state.

Lockdown measures have been extended for another four weeks in response to the escalating crisis. Of the 177 new cases, 46 were in the community for their entire infectious period.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said “it would not have been realistic for the NSW Government to make a decision in the next two weeks given where we are today”.

More than 94,000 people got tested in the last reporting period.

– with NewsWire’s Courtney Gould