Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke says Victoria’s ongoing lockdown is the first “extended period of time” where people have been "left with nothing to live on” since there is no JobKeeper.
“Once you hit something that’s seven days or more, you’re talking about an entire cycle of your rent, an entire cycle of your grocery bills where you have zero income to pay for it,” he said.
Mr Burke told Sky News the federal government’s failure to establish purpose-built quarantine facilities was partly to blame for the outbreak and the prime minister’s refusal to take responsibility was “unacceptable”.
“Up until now the message from the federal government, in particular to sole traders and casual workers who’ve been left with nothing to live on for more than a week, the message has been that they’re on their own and the federal government will take no responsibility,” he said.
“If there’s a shift from that, then that’s a good thing, and that’s been implied by comments that the treasurer’s made this morning.
“But in terms of the exact package we’ll weigh it up."