Services Australia is to receive up to 5,000 additional staff to cope with its increased workload as new COVID-19 economic stimulus measures announced over the weekend begin to roll out.
The injection of new personnel follows the Prime Minister’s announcement that the eligibility criteria for income support payments were to be expanded and that a new fortnightly $550 COVID-19 payment is to be made available to job seekers.
“This will be paid to both existing and new recipients of the JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance JobSeeker, Parenting Payment, Farm Household Allowance and Special Benefit,” the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison said.
He said the new payments would be made available for the next six months.
“The Government will provide a further $750 payment to social security and veteran income support recipients and eligible concession card holders, except for those who are receiving an income support payment that is eligible to receive the Coronavirus supplement,” Mr Morrison said.
The Treasurer said the $189 billion economic support package on offer was the equivalent of 9.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“The Government is taking unprecedented action to strengthen the safety net available to Australians that are stood down or lose their jobs and increasing support for small businesses that do it tough over the next six months,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.
“These measures build significantly on what we have already announced,” he said.
“These extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures.”
