Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a new “temporary COVID-19 disaster payment”

The disaster payment will be made for people who live in declared COVID-19 hotspots and are unable to work because of a lockdown.

It comes as the nation’s second-biggest state of Victoria remains in an extended lockdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

The payment will be made available to those unable to work due to imposed lockdowns.

The Federal Government however revealed there are terms and conditions of the payment which include that the area in lockdown must be recognised as a hotspot from the Federal Government.

The PM also stated that payments will not be made available unless an area is locked down for more than two weeks, meaning a one-week lockdown would see no payments to stood down workers.

The Commonwealth Government also stated they reserve the right to cease payments if they no longer designate an area as a hotspot.

The breakdown

Only workers stood down from employment during a lockdown will be eligible for payments.

The new payment is set to cost the Australian Government $50 million a week for every 100,000 applicants it pays.

Australia’s Victoria remains in lockdown

Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino says vaccination was the only way out of the pandemic and that the locked down state was waiting on Federal support in relation to the federal vaccine rollout.