Yahoo Finance NSW to introduce $320 COVID-19 isolation payments
New South Wales residents forced to isolate while waiting for COVID-19 test results will be eligible for $320 payments, following lobbying by unions and the state Labor party.
The payments will be available from Monday 16 August, with the state's unions welcoming the payments.
"While the $320 payment is less generous and more limited than the Victorian policy it is nonetheless progress," Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said.
“The link between economic security and health outcomes is crystal clear. When workers face a financial penalty to test or get vaccinated, it gives the virus more chance to spread. This payment is welcome, if overdue recognition of tension.
“No worker should have to choose between putting food on the table or getting tested for COVID."
The payment scheme is similar to the program introduced by the Victorian government during its lengthy 2020 lockdown. The Victorian government introduced $300 COVID-19 isolation payments in July 2020 for people who lost income while waiting for a COVID-19 test result, and has since increased the payment to $450.
At the time, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said it was a “fair payment” and reflected the difficult circumstances low-income, casual and contract workers may face if they develop COVID-19 symptoms and need to get tested.
South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capitol Territory also offer isolation payments with varying eligibility criteria.
Vulnerable Aussies need isolation payments, or Universal Basic Income
Associate professor in employment relations at Curtin University Dr Kantha Dayaram said Victoria’s major 2020 lockdown highlighted the danger of COVID-19 spreading through aged care and meatworks settings, and the need for isolation payments.
Speaking to Yahoo Finance before NSW's payments were confirmed, she said that workers in those industries are often underemployed, or would like to have more hours of work.
That means they’re among the most vulnerable when they need to take sick leave or isolate.
“They do want additional hours of work, which means they need additional income for their living standards,” she said.
“This additional supplement gives them that additional level of comfort of saying, ‘Well, I’m not feeling well, I’ve got the sniffles, and it could be related to COVID, but I’m alright to take this time off because I do have this income’.”
She said it speaks to the bigger question of whether Australia should introduce a universal basic income: providing all workers with a standard level of pay set above the poverty line as a safety net.
Most (77 per cent) of Australians would support a UBI, a recent Anglicare survey found, with the researchers claiming that last year’s doubling of the JobSeeker payment was in many ways a UBI.
“The changes were only temporary. Yet they confirmed what many have always known – poverty is not inevitable. It is a policy choice,” the researchers said.
“The simple act of giving a liveable income to so many people, including those who were out of work or employed casually, all but eradicated the problem of poverty in Australia.”
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