SYDNEY (CU)_As of mid-day Friday (23 July), New South Wales had recorded more than a 130 new COVID-19 infections, a situation, which could be regarded as a ‘national emergency’. Accordingly, restrictions have been tightened further, with workers in certain local government areas no longer being allowed to leave their communities unless they are working in health and emergency sectors. The measures are expected to have a $2 billion blow on the retail and hospitality industries, which are now facing their first lockdown without the JobKeeper support package. Therefore, the recent COVID-19 Disaster Payment introduced by the Federal Government could not have come at a better time for the people in the southeastern state.
Although the one-off lump sum of $500 was initially created in response to the lockdown measures in Melbourne, it now applied to any area in the country which has been declared a Coronavirus hotspot and is in lockdown for more than seven days. Nevertheless, there are several other hurdles which one must have to get past in order to qualify for the payment.
Firstly, it must be noted that the package was primarily designed for casual workers, which means those who have any paid leave entitlements will not qualify. Moreover, the claimant cannot have more than $10,000 in liquid assets. Another condition, which is not entirely surprising is that you cannot be getting any other form of financial support from any government programme such as Centrelink.
On the bright side, those applying for the scheme can be either an Australian resident or a holder of a working visa. Moreover, in order to be eligible, even if you usually work only one day a week, although those working less than 20 hours a week will only be entitled to claim $325.
Those who hope to claim the payment could do so by logging into their myGov account and linking this account to a Centrelink online account.
