New plan for Covid-19 disaster relief package

Scott Morrison will take a new plan to national cabinet that streamlines Covid-19 disaster relief payments after a week of bickering between the states.

Scott Morrison at Kirribilli House in Sydney. Picture: Getty Images

Scott Morrison will take a new plan to national cabinet that streamlines Covid-19 disaster relief payments after a week of bickering between the states over the equity of commonwealth assistance.

Under the proposal, payments will be triggered when a lockdown goes into a second week but will be backdated to the day restrictions began.

The $10,000 liquid asset test will also be scrapped and payment rates lifted, with people who have lost more or less than 20 hours a week of work receiving $600 and $375 respectively.

The payments were initially set at $500 a week for people who had lost more than 20 hours of work a week and $325 a week for those who had lost less.

“We don’t want to see these lockdowns. We prefer they not happen,” the Prime Minister said on Thursday. “It’s important we understand if these things become necessary, then Australians and Australian businesses have the confidence about what the arrangements will be.”

The Prime Minister said he would ask the state and territory leaders to agree to the proposal at Friday’s meeting.

Mr Morrison’s plan makes the financial relief offered to NSW this week available to any state that enters a snap lockdown, with payments kept at the JobKeeper rates from last ­December.

It comes after the commonwealth faced criticism this week for announcing increased support for NSW on top of what Victoria was offered when Melbourne was locked down in May.

Payments ranging from $1500 to $10,000 a week, jointly funded by the states and the commonwealth, will go to businesses with a turnover of up to $50m and the rate of payment will be fixed at 40 per cent of the enterprise’s payroll payments. Sole traders will receive $1000 a week if they are affected.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews welcomed the payment proposal on Thursday as he announced a snap five-day lockdown, but repeated calls for equity between the states. He called on Mr Morrison to release the disaster payments earlier.

“I’m very confident that the Prime Minister has heard our message loud and clear this week, and I welcome the changes announced from Sydney today,” he said. “I want everybody to get a fair deal.”