Extra Financial Support For Locked-Down Sydney

CREDIT: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Scott Morrison has recently announced extra financial assistance for residents and businesses in locked-down greater Sydney. The government is bringing combined government assistance to over $1 billion a week.

This package will lift disaster payments to $750 a week as well as include a $200 weekly supplement payment for people on government benefits. 

Scott Morrison has said individual payments are more appropriate than last year's jobkeeper program.

"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."

"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, all at once, and we did it for six months."

"What we need now is to focus 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 didn't have that flexibility. It didn't have that agility."

Those who have lost over 20 hours of work a week, will receive $750 from $600.

Those who have lost between eight and 20 hours of work a week, will move from $375 to $450.

Eligible companies and not-for-profits will be receiving payments of between $1500 and $100,000 a week based on payroll. The turnover threshold has been lifted from $50 million to $250 million.

This new package will apply to all future lockdowns lasting at least a week.

The total federal commitment will cost around $750 million a week.

The business package is estimated at $300 million a week, and the overall combined package to at least $1 billion.

An extra $200 million has been announced for Victorian businesses coming out of state lockdown. This will continue to South Australia if needed.

 Scott Morrison has urged people to "stay the course" as Sydney sees the highest number of cases since lockdown began.

"The sooner the lockdown works, the sooner we get out of lockdown."

"We have to push through this lockdown. There is no other shortcut, there is no other way through. We just have to hunker down and push through."

"I would expect by Christmas that we would be seeing a very different Australia to what we are seeing now," he said in accordance with higher vaccination rates.

"Lockdowns become a thing of the past when you are at that level."