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Major $750 payment gone from today

Eliza Bavin
·Personal Finance Editor
Updated ·2-min read
Australian currency and people walking on a busy street wearing masks to indicate the covid-19 payments are gone.
Aussies who can't work due to COVID-19 will no longer be able to access the disaster payment. (Source: Getty)

From today, if you catch COVID-19 you will no longer be able to access the Federal Government’s COVID-19 disaster payment.

The $750 payment was available to Aussies who were not able to work due to catching the virus.

The Morrison government had announced the payment would stop being available on June 30, and the Albanese Government pushed ahead with that plan.

The payments cost the Government close to $1.9 billion since being rolled out in August 2020.

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Although the payment will no longer be available to those who catch COVID-19 from today, anyone who began their isolation period on or before June 30 will still be eligible to apply until July 13.

Cost cutting

Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said continuing the payment at this stage was not necessary.

"It was the decision of the Morrison government to end the temporary Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment on June 30 and the new Government is confirming that decision," Watt said, according to the ABC.

"We are now in a new, different phase of pandemic management, where we live with community transmission.”

Watt said the Government needed to focus on reducing debt.

"We inherited a budget with a trillion dollars of debt, so keeping to the plan of letting these payments expire two-and-a-half years into the pandemic is the responsible thing to do," he said.

What payments are still available?

You may be able to get the Crisis Payment for National Health Emergency (COVID-19) if you, or a person you are caring for, had to enter quarantine or self-isolation.

You must be all of the following to be eligible:

  • Receiving, or are eligible for, an income support payment or ABSTUDY Living Allowance

  • In severe financial hardship

  • Able to provide the right kind of evidence to support your claim.

Depending on your circumstances, you may be eligible for other kinds of Crisis Payment.

To find out which payments you may be eligible for depending on your specific circumstances, you can use the Payment and Service finder from Services Australia.

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