JobKeeper to be extended until Christmas.
The JobKeeper wage subsidy will be extended until Christmas, at a lower rate and with tighter restrictions, news.com.au reported.
The publication confirmed the subsidy will be lowered to about $1000 a fortnight, with casuals and part-time workers securing a part-time rate to end the 'overpaying' of casuals with a flat-rate.
The payment is expected to focus on industries such as tourism and hospitality that were forced to shut down. Companies will again need to prove they are being hit by COVID-19 restrictions, and may need to submit monthly turnover updates to the ATO.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will hand down an economic and fiscal update on Thursday, which will include Treasury's review of the JobKeeper wage subsidy, as well as the enhanced JobSeeker payment, both of which are legislated to end in September.
The payments have helped to prop up the economy, with fears of 'falling off a cliff' if they disappear when originally planned on September 27.
New economic modelling suggests over half a million Australians would be thrown into poverty if the JobSeeker payment returns to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic level of $40 a day.
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, and in the face of an anticipated sharp jump in unemployment, the federal government introduced the coronavirus supplement, which doubled the JobSeeker payment - formerly known as Newstart - to around $1100 a fortnight.
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