CORONAVIRUS relief for more than 1700 Sunraysia businesses and 4400 people out of work in the region has been extended.
But from October businesses will receive reduced payments under the Federal Government’s JobKeeper and JobSeeker schemes.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the changes on Tuesday.
JobKeeper, the government’s wage subsidy scheme, had been slated to end in September, while JobSeeker had been set to revert to its $40-a-day base rate.
Instead, from October, JobKeeper will become $1200 a fortnight for full-time workers and $750 a fortnight for part-time workers, down from $1500 a fortnight.
Between January and March, JobKeeper will again fall to $1000 a fortnight for full-time workers and $650 a fortnight for part-time workers.
The scheme will run until March 28.
JobSeeker will become about $800 a fortnight, down from $1100 a fortnight (though still above the pre-pandemic base rate of $560 a fortnight).
The coronavirus supplement, which comes on top of the base rate, will run until the end of the year.
In Sunraysia’s 10 largest postcodes, 1736 businesses had JobKeeper applications processed as of April, according to Treasury figures.
A total of 4430 people in Sunraysia received JobSeeker payments in June, down from 4482 in May, according to Department of Social Services figures.
Mr Morrison appeared to leave the door open to extending each program beyond their update end dates if required.
“Where the world will be at the end of March is not something that we could speculate upon at this time,” he said.
Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese welcomed splitting JobKeeper into two tiers, saying 875,000 people were earning more money on JobKeeper than before the crisis.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said the payment cuts to both programs would push part-time and casual workers closer to poverty.
