Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has denied he has made a mistake by allowing pandemic leave payments to expire, but says he's open to providing more assistance. 9News
Speaking to the Today show from Fiji, Albanese said the decisions had been made in partnership with the state and territory governments, and that the commonwealth would "continue to take advice".
"We inherited those decisions and we inherited those decisions and we inherited a trillion dollars of debt," he said."It's just a fact that we've made no decision to cut payments. There were measures that were in place that have been made by the former government with end dates to them." He said the federal government had extended hospital funding to states and territories by $890 million, as well as focus on ramping up awareness campaigns about booster shots.
Asked if he would be open to re-opening some of that assistance, Albanese said only that he would continue to work with state and territory governments, and follow health advice.
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