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Labour shortages are likely to wane off the back of wound-down COVID-19 support measures, the Treasurer said, as New South Wales prepares to reopen.
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Ceased COVID-19 support payments to bolster labour shortage: Frydenberg
11 October 2021
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Speaking to 2GB Radio on Monday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said businesses in NSW can expect labour shortages to wane as COVID-19 support payments become more difficult to access amid the state’s reopening.
Mr Frydenberg said that “vaccination is the cheapest form of stimulus”.
“In New South Wales, we wanted to have a transition, because not everything is opening up today,” Mr Frydenberg said. “And so not everyone can get the same number of hours of work that they previously had.
“This is why we’ve actually announced that those emergency payments are being brought to an end.”
Mr Frydenberg last month announced that the Morrison government will begin winding down the COVID-19 disaster payment for workers once 70 per cent of a state or territory’s over-16 population is fully vaccinated.
The government’s COVID-19 disaster payment was in late July increased to offer weekly payments of $750 to those who have lost 20 or more hours of work a week as a result of lockdowns, and $450 a week to those who have lost between eight and 20 hours of work.
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Once a state or territory reaches 70 per cent full vaccination, workers who seek to continue receiving the disaster payment will be forced to reapply on a weekly basis, to prove that they continue to be eligible.
When 80 per cent of a state or territory’s over-16 population is fully vaccinated, the payment will taper off even further, before ending entirely over a two-week period.
The first week after a state reaches the 80 per cent vaccination rate, recipients of the support measure will have their payments slashed to a flat payment of $450 for a loss of eight hours or more.
Meanwhile, those receiving COVID-19 welfare support will have their payments cut in half, to $100.
During the second week, the payment will be reduced even further to $320 a week for those who have lost eight or more hours of work, the same rate as JobSeeker.
Mr Frydenberg said that NSW’s reopening on Monday will mark the beginning of an increasingly difficult support application process.
“People (in NSW) have to reapply now every week for that COVID disaster payment, it doesn’t automatically make its way into people’s bank accounts,” he said. “And that it does come to an end when we reach those 80 per cent vaccination rates, which are very close to doing.
“But ultimately, we want those young gardeners to go and work for that bloke who we’re talking to; we want the waiters and the waitresses to go back and work in the hospitality industry.”
Mr Frydenberg said the COVID disaster payments were costing the taxpayer about one and a half billion dollars a week in New South Wales in Victoria.
“This has been the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression,” the Treasurer said.
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