Scott Morrison’s plan to provide further economic support to locked-down NSW was met with fury south of the Murray. The Victorian government says the more generous package is a sign NSW is getting special treatment. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says it’s because the NSW lockdown is longer — and has been extended for at least another two weeks today. He wants Victoria to stop whingeing.
So who’s right here?
The packages compared
On June 3, as Victoria’s lockdown entered its second week, Morrison and Frydenberg outlined a package to support workers. To get payments, people had to jump through several hoops. First, they would have to live in an area declared a COVID hotspot by the Commonwealth, and lose income due to restrictions that lasted longer than a week. To be eligible, recipients had to have liquid assets of under $10,000. They’d receive $500 per week for losing over 20 hours of work, and $325 if they lost less. At the time, there was no suggestion payments would be expanded if the lockdown was extended.
Those payments kicked in after a week of Sydney’s lockdown. But as the lockdown entered a third week, Morrison removed the liquid assets test on support payments. “I should stress that takes us beyond what we’ve recently seen in Victoria,” he said.
Yesterday, with the Sydney lockdown certain to be extended, Morrison unveiled further support for NSW. Where a lockdown enters its fourth week, the payments will increase to $600 for someone who loses more than 20 hours, and $375 if they lose between eight and 20 hours. The package also provides support for businesses which demonstrate a 30% decline in turnover.
The new package comes a week after Frydenberg insisted the government wasn’t bringing back JobKeeper. But Morrison has continued to compare the NSW package to JobKeeper in terms of its impact.
Meanwhile, Frydenberg and Morrison have pointed to the government’s generous support for Melbourne during the city’s long lockdown last year, claiming Victoria received more JobKeeper per capita than any other state. But given Victoria spent more than twice as long in lockdown, the state actually received substantially less in JobKeeper per day in lockdown than NSW did.
Who’s right?
Technically the government is correct to suggest that the payments in NSW have increased because the state’s lockdown has. Because Victoria’s most recent lockdown lasted just two weeks, we don’t know whether payments would have increased there too.
“If tomorrow Victoria were to go into a lengthy lockdown … they’d get exactly what we announced yesterday,” Frydenberg said this morning.
But yesterday’s announcement comes after a sharp difference in rhetoric around lockdowns in the two states. And it’s this difference in tone that has aggravated Victoria. Morrison seemed far more reluctant to offer support to the state when it entered its lockdown in late May. Frydenberg refused JobKeeper, and a day before announcing the support package, Morrison’s office was briefing that the government didn’t want to incentivise states going into lockdown when they didn’t need to.
Last year Frydenberg attacked Melbourne’s long lockdown for its impacts on mental health, hitting out at the Andrews government’s failures on hotel quarantine. He’s been far less bullish in pointing out the Berejiklian government’s missteps.
The narrative was very different back when the government introduced its disaster payments in Victoria. NSW was the gold standard state, which had successfully controlled outbreaks without burdening its citizens with lockdowns. Victoria has been perceived as overly cautious, so scarred by the experience of 2020 that it couldn’t deal with a handful of cases without the blunt hammer of lockdown.
Some Liberal MPs derived far too much glee lauding the comparative success of a Coalition-run state over a Labor one. Morrison praised NSW for never going into lockdown just days before NSW went into lockdown.
But the Delta variant smashed that narrative. And now, no matter what the government says about what it would’ve done for Victoria, it’ll never escape being accused of playing favourites.
This might be called the “gold standard” debate. The Federal Government cannot play favourites at least not for very long. However what it can and does to is play a divisive game of word politics based on which State Government they are referring to. Kishor Napier-Ramen presents this situation objectively and well. What the Federal Government needs to know about this style of being much nicer to your own is that we Victorians will remember what has been said and the intent behind it.
Has always been highly partisan. Everything, Everything he does is based on what he thinks will benefit him most politically. Staying in power by fair means or foul (mainly the latter) is what his life’s about.
In addition though, he seems unable to put himself in the shoes of others unlike himself – women, various minorities, and now even non New South Welshmen.
Or New South Welshmen who live outside or even, I imagine, inside Sydney We don’t all approve of Gold Standard Gladys and her mate Smirko’s handling of this Delta outbreak, Woop Woop. Every day we see more new cases emerging in workplaces ,yet no definition of essential workers is provided by the NSW government, because god forbid she order businesses to close. Much better to force workers to be at the mercy of businesses like Harvey Norman, who will not close until Morrison guarantees their profits with JobKeeper 2.0.
Josh is competing with sky news after dark for headlines sad times indeed.
Joshy’s political career is over, he just doesn’t know it yet. Good riddance to him.
Interesting Gabrielle, I take from your other post that you’re from Victoria. My (NSW) feeling is that Josh is playing on slippery ground here. He’s the Treasurer, and was reluctant to help out his fellow Victorians, he was nasty in his commentary during last years lockdown, he’s in the safest f safe seats, but is there such a thing in Victoria these days? Is there a worthy ‘Voices of Kooyong’ type person down there thinking they might have a go at his seat?
I know the well-set Lib vote is pretty rusted on but it looks like an opportunity for someone who has the right profile.
Nothing would gladden the heart more than to see Josh lose his seat next election, along with Porter.
Sorry but I’m a NSWelshwoman (that alone will piss the “Boys” (Coalition men) off. Joshy has sold his state out. Unforgivable,
Last election he suffered a two-party preferred swing of 7.1 per cent, cutting Mr Frydenberg’s margin from 12.8 per cent to 5.7 per cent.
Josh is not a bad sort of a bloke until he opens his big conservative gob.
What do you expect? His hero’s are Reagan and Thatcher. I still remember Jay Wetherill humiliating him in Adelaide over renewable energy.
Thanks to Gladys the Delta virus has crossed the border into Victoria thanks to inconsiderate removalists who failed to wear masks and follow covid rules.
Once again Dan Andrews is left to clean another states mess all because Gladys wouldn’t call a hard lockdown for NSW. The (faux)gold standard is more important than people’s lives, it would seem.
I’d like to see $cotty and Joshy try and blame Dan Andrews if this latest outbreak gets loose. We all know where to lay the blame.
And the May outbreak in Victoria was due to a failure of hotel quarantine in SA.
The difference in federal support might be debatable, although it’s clear to me that NSW has received much more receptive ears than Victoria did. What is absolutely clear is the difference in language. Where is Joshy’s denunciation of the biggest failure in protecting the health of NSW. Where is his smart Alec mouth now?
Vote him out Victorians, he has not represented you well, not all.