The Morrison Government’s plan to withdraw emergency COVID-19 financial support after states reach an 80 per cent double vaccination rate is a blow to struggling families, says Catholic Social Services Australia.
Francis Sullivan, chair of Catholic Social Services Australia, said that while the payments could not go on forever, the Government needs to ensure that in the event of future COVID lockdowns or outbreaks it is able to reinstate the payments quickly.
“The federal Government was very slow to provide assistance to people who had lost work at the start of both last year’s and this year’s shut downs,” Mr Sullivan said.
“This meant that for weeks, sometimes months, people were effectively living off welfare services and placed under huge amounts of pressure.
“Sadly, the federal Government seems to be late in providing assistance to struggling families and fast in cutting off the support. This is only going to place greater pressure on low-income families, the disabled and those who have been worst hit by the lockdowns.
“The financial uncertainly that this decision will bring will only exacerbate the mental health issues that thousands of people around Australia are now suffering,” Mr Sullivan said.
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