Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced staff who have been stood down from work without pay will be entitled to receive financial support.
The Temporary COVID Disaster Payment will be available to those working in Commonwealth-declared hotspots for lockdowns exceeding seven days.
Staff who work 20 hours or more a week will be entitled to $500, with those working less than 20 hours to receive $325. Payments will be made on a week-by-week basis.
To be eligible, workers must be Australian residents or permitted to work in Australia. They must be 17 or older, employed before the lockdown and self-declare the hours they would have typically worked.
Workers will not qualify if they already claim pandemic-related leave and are required to self-declare they have liquid assets of less than $10,000.
“If you are already receiving support from the Social Security system, on JobSeeker, where we have relaxed the rules around JobSeeker, you’re getting your support through that channel,” said Mr Morrison.
“The person must accept and acknowledge that they meet the above criteria with the possibility of retrospective compliance activity, as you would expect as we apply in all of these circumstances.”