Labor is pressuring the Morrison government to rethink its economic support programs amid a growing virus crisis as the country’s two major cities are in lockdown.
The NSW state government tightened its lockdown measures, which came into play from midnight and include stopping any construction work.
“Come tomorrow, people would have been going to work in most instances and they can’t go to work,” Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program.
“There will be a very big crisis when it comes to families’ budgets across our area and the economic package that Scott Morrison has delivered does not cut the mustard.”
He said the support package that is being provided is complex, confusing and difficult to access the information.
“I didn’t have to explain JobKeeper to people. JobKeeper had the benefit that it kept people in touch with their employer, it kept the employment link open and alive and that doesn’t happen at the moment,” Mr Bowen said.
The government has repeatedly said it will not return to the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme which ended in March.
Some 12 million Australian residents are under COVID-19 lockdown, with the rest living with some form of travel restriction.
NSW reported 111 new community cases of the virus on Saturday along with the death of a man in his 80s, the third fatality in this current outbreak.
Lockdown restrictions in NSW were tightened again – the third time in as many weeks – as the Victorian government boasted its “go hard and go early” strategy had been vindicated by the spiralling situation in NSW.
Although 18 of the 19 new cases in Victoria were not in insolation for the entirety of their infectious period, on average each only spent 1.7 days in the community before their infection was picked up.
But Australia is not alone in this battle against COVID-19.
Trade Minister Dan Tehan is currently in South Korea, having also been in Singapore and Japan as part of a tour of Australia’s trading partners.
“They are all at the moment trying to suppress the Delta strain like we are in Australia,” Mr Tehan told Sky News.
“One of the very interesting discussions has been how we plan for life once we have dealt with the virus, suppressed it, and how we begin to open our economies and they are are looking to next year, hopefully, to be able put that in place.”
AAP
