Covid-19 Australia: Scott Morrison announces $500 weekly disaster payment

Scott Morrison has announced a new ‘temporary Covid-19 disaster payment’ for Australians who are stuck in lockdown and unable to work for longer than a week.

Residents who live or work in an area defined by the Commonwealth as a virus hotspot will be able to claim money from the federal government once a lockdown goes on for more than seven days.

Workers will be entitled to a $500 weekly payment if they ordinarily work more than 20 hours a week or $325 if they work less than that.

They must have less than $10,000 in their account must have used up any pandemic sick leave to qualify. 

Anyone on JobSeeker does not qualify because they are already receiving support. 

Melbourne residents currently in lockdown will be able to apply for the cash on the Services Australia website from Tuesday. 

There are around half a million casual workers in the city. 

The money will be transferred into workers’ bank accounts under the disaster payment scheme which also applies during fires and floods. 

Regional Victorians are not eligible because they are coming out of lockdown tonight. 

Mr Morrison will propose a 50-50 payment model to share costs with the states at Friday’s National Cabinet meeting. 

The Victorian government has already given grants of up to $7,000 to businesses. 

‘What matters is that businesses get the support they need and households get the support they need and the politicians don’t need to have a discussion in public about how that is going to get done,’ Mr Morrison said.

‘They just need to know it is going to get done… we just need to get on with it to ensure they have the confidence about moving forward into the next week.’

The decision comes after the Victorian government relentlessly lobbied the the prime minister for support.

The move allows the Commonwealth government