Coronavirus: Victoria must go halves on lockdown bailout, says Josh Frydenberg
Josh Frydenberg has left the door open to financial support for Victorians but is resisting pressure to offer a local version of JobKeeper.
Josh Frydenberg has left the door open to providing financial support to Victorians after the fourth lockdown of more than five million Melburnians was extended by at least a week, but assistance would likely be conditional on being matched by the state government.
The Treasurer is resisting pressure from the Victorian government, unions and industry groups to offer a localised version of the JobKeeper payment to the state, saying the wage subsidy program was specifically targeted to help the country during a period of economic hibernation in 2020.
“What we need to think about, obviously given the pandemic is still with us, is how we approach this on a national basis,” Mr Frydenberg said. “It is not about Victoria, or individual cases … it is about on a national basis and we will stick to our principles, namely, our approaches will continue to be national, sustainable (and) where support is offered, it is through existing systems.”
Major employers have already begun standing down staff. Crown Melbourne on Wednesday said the extension of restrictions meant the casino would “stand down the majority of its staff”.
They will be eligible for a one-off, discretionary payment.
Acting Premier James Merlino confirmed Victoria’s original seven-day circuit-breaker lockdown would be extended by one week and metropolitan Melburnians would be barred from going to the regions on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
Until at least 11.59pm on June 10, residents in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will be allowed to leave their home only to purchase food and essential items, exercise, undertake permitted work and study, to provide care or to be vaccinated.
In a slight easing of restrictions, the 5km limit will increase to 10km and Year 11 and 12 students will be allowed to return to classrooms.
From midnight on Thursday, restrictions will also ease in regional Victoria, with restaurants and shops allowed to reopen with capacity limits.
Mr Frydenberg said he would consider a request for support from his Victorian counterpart Tim Pallas and said the impact of lockdowns had been devastating for his home state. “Victorians have been subject to 140 days of lockdowns whereas the average across the other states is just six days,” he said.
Unveiling a $209 million business support package, Mr Merlino said the Victorian government was seeking a JobKeeper-style program for Victorian workers over the period of the lockdown.
“Victorians businesses are absolutely devastated by this lockdown, as are our families and communities,” he said.
“They need support and the support we’re providing is bigger and broader than the support we’ve provided in the federal lockdown, but we need the federal government to deliver on what hey are responsible for, and that is around wage subsidies.”
When asked during question time whether the federal government needed to take responsibility for the lockdown, Scott Morrison said the decision was “solely and totally” the domain of the Victorian government.
“That is a responsibility that the states and territories have jealously guarded over the course of the pandemic,” the Prime Minister said. “That is their responsibility and they are making those decisions and taking those responsibilities.”
Mr Morrison was due to speak to Mr Merlino on Wednesday.
Several federal ministers were believed to have expressed their anger at offering the Andrews government aid for closing down the state but accepted the political reality that they may have to intervene to spare Victorians further hardship.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said “all Australians” would be disappointed by the lockdown extension “because the longer this goes on, the bigger the social and economic costs for us all”.
“It’s frustrating that the taxpayers of Australia have to continually foot the bill for system failures in Victoria,” she said.
“At the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the national cabinet to get the right contact tracing and quarantine systems in place to make sure Australians aren’t continually plunged into the uncertainty and despair of stop-start lockdowns like this.”
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Jenny Lambert said the government should provide targeted support for businesses and there needed to be a national plan for future lockdowns. “The only way to deliver targeted support measures is for national cabinet to agree on one plan for what restrictions are put in place based on the nature of the outbreak,” she said. “They need an agreed arrangement for response from which can flow support based on the scale of the lockdown.”
ACTU secretary Sally McManus called on the federal government to reinstate JobKeeper payments for workers during lockdowns, saying hundreds of thousands of Victorians faced at least two weeks with no pay. “How long does this lockdown – which was caused by the failure of the federal government to secure quarantine systems and roll out the vaccine – have to continue before the Morrison government will lift a finger to support workers?” she said.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said a JobKeeper-style package would be difficult to design for an area in lockdown that was “now just primarily Melbourne”.
“There are other supports the federal government can provide but ultimately any state that chooses to lock down has to be the main instigator of support in the first instance,“ he said.
Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra said the introduction of a JobKeeper-style scheme activated by lockdowns would be the easiest support measure to implement.
“This is about other states and territories who might have to deal with state-imposed lockdowns.”
Additional reporting: Ewin Hannan, Rosie Lewis