The prime minister will restore the $750 pandemic isolation payment and bring forward a snap national cabinet meeting in response to rising COVID cases
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will sign off on restoring the $750 pandemic isolation payment, reversing course on his earlier stance to let the payment lapse over winter.
He also backed a debate about reducing the current seven-day isolation period to five days, though he insisted he did not want that to happen while Sydney faced a challenging flu season and a surge in COVID cases. Albanese tweeted that he would “report to National Cabinet tomorrow [Saturday] morning and we will discuss proposals to ensure the vulnerable are protected over coming weeks”.
“We should move on it,” one minister said. “Do we actually want people at work when they’ve got COVID?” Perrottet said on Friday said he was open to “all discussions” at National Cabinet about funding isolation payments, including the potential for a 50-50 split, but he later told the“If the government forces you to not go to work because of public health orders, I fundamentally believe the government should compensate you,” he said.
“And whilst that is the case for the UK, they are not in winter. We have to be conscious of the fact we are in the middle of winter.”While Victoria supports the return of emergency payments and free rapid antigen tests for concession-card holders, the state has been relatively muted in the debate while Premier Daniel Andrews is on leave.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Albanese signs off on restoring the $750 pandemic isolation payment in policy reversalBreaking | Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will sign off on restoring the $750 pandemic isolation payment, reversing course on his earlier stance to let the payment lapse over winter. covid19
Read more »
Albanese defends ending COVID support paymentsPeak medical groups have criticised the government's decision to end free RATs for concession holders and COVID-19 support payments but the Prime Minister has doubled down on the move and refused to call it a 'mistake'.
Read more »
Albanese pressured by NSW Labor leader to reinstate COVID pandemic leave paymentsThe Prime Minister faces calls from his own party to reinstate pandemic leave payments, with warnings that the pandemic is not over.
Read more »
Perrottet to push Albanese to reverse 'unfair' COVID payment decisionNSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has declared it was 'unfair' of the federal government to end the COVID-19 support payments ahead of Monday's National Cabinet, where he will 'almost certainly' advocate for a reversal.
Read more »
Albanese resists calls to bring back COVID paymentsThe Prime Minister has resisted calls to reinstate COVID-19 isolation payments, arguing his government 'inherited a trillion dollars of debt' and 'that was something that was not our responsibility'.
Read more »
‘Outrageous hypocrisy’: Albanese under fire over old COVID tweetShadow health minister Anne Ruston has declared Anthony Albanese should “take a dose of his own medicine” following the emergence of an emotional tweet from 2020 where he urged the former Coalition government to introduce pandemic payments.
Read more »