Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has again rejected calls for the JobKeeper wage subsidy to be reinstated, saying the current support measures are getting to applicants faster.

But he continues to watch developments, particularly the lockdown in NSW, which is now in its fifth week and looks set to go longer than the planned July 30 cut-off with another 145 local cases reported on Monday.

“Our policies are never set and forget,” Mr Frydenberg told reporters in Melbourne.

“You never know what is around the corner, you need to be flexible, you need to respond to changing circumstances.”

But he said the emergency payments that are available – both income and business support – are very significant and designed to help Australians who are in need.

Trade unions continue to press the case for the return of JobKeeper, as well as calling for small enterprise grants.

The ACTU wants immediate cash grants for small businesses and says current assistance measures are “confusing, inadequate and often administratively burdensome”.

It dismissed as “grossly inadequate” the disaster payments, starting at $375 per week and up to a maximum of $600 for those who have lost more than 20 hours of work.

“The current disaster payment is less than the minimum wage and less than what workers received during lockdowns in 2020,” ACTU Secretary Sally McManus said.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has also appealed for the reintroduction of wage subsidies.

Mr Frydenberg said JobKeeper was introduced when the whole country was in lockdown last year and at a time when the unemployment rate was expected to soar to 15 per cent.

Instead, the jobless rate now stands at a decade low of 4.9 per cent.

“We are seeing with a lengthy lockdown in New South Wales, and the payments we are rolling out, they are faster than what occurred under JobKeeper,” the treasurer said.

“The payments are being made in about 40 minutes.”

He said more than 700,000 payments have now been processed by Services Australia at a cost of more than $350 million.

AAP