The Federal Government has announced they will extend the $16.8 billion JobSeeker supplement payment, at a reduced rate, until the end of March 2021.
JobSeeker will reduce from $815 a fortnight to $715 a fortnight from December.
The Government added a coronavirus supplement onto the JobSeeker payment at the start of the COVID-19 crisis.
That fortnightly supplement, at currently $250, was due to expire on Christmas Day, but will now be extended by an additional three months.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and cabinet ministers made the decision on Monday night, and have confirmed on Tuesday, that the rate will drop from $250 to $150 a fortnight from 1 January.
“Today, we are announcing the changes to the Covid Supplement we introduced at the start of the pandemic, and we will be extending that supplement for three months after the end of December,” he said today in a press conference with Social Services Minister Anne Rushton.
“We will be changing the rate of that supplement down to $150 for that period, out to the end of three months.”
Related: “JobMaker hiring credit: Up to $200 a week to create jobs for young jobseekers”
Ms Rushton has confirmed the measures that were put in place to increase eligibility for the payment, such as eligibility for sole traders and the self-employed, have also been extended
“As we go forward and as the jobs market starts to open up and as our economy starts to recover from this extraordinary pandemic, we want to encourage Australians to reengage with the workforce,” she said.
“Over recent months we have put in place social security measures to support all Australians through this pandemic, but now our focus has to be on supporting Australians back to work.”
Mr Morrison has warned there will “remain challenges for some time yet to come”.
Foreshadowing that strategy, the Prime Minister said: “We will be responsive. We will be targeted. We will be proportionate. We will calibrate the supports that are needed when and where they’re needed.”
Mr Morrison said this would cost taxpayers around $3.2 billion over that three-month period.
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