Australia. Social protection and viral recession
So far, Australia’s help for people displaced, self-isolating or ill has been far from generous.
If the Australian Financial Review is right, the federal government is considering a new transitional income support payment for workers who lose their jobs because of the coronavirus crisis.
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The temporary payment, a central feature of a package that will be “more about survival than stimulus,” will be set at a higher rate than Newstart. Applicants won’t face a waiting period for payments.
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If this new payment does feature the second stimulus package, the government will be following the advice of economists from both the left and the right. Conservative economist Greg Mankiw, for example, who chaired George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, says that “fiscal policymakers should focus not on aggregate demand but on social insurance.”
His counterpart in Barack Obama’s White House, Jason Furman, agrees: Do as much as possible using existing structures and previous laws. For paid leave, you need to invent something new because there is no structure there.
But for almost everything else, you can use unemployment insurance, the SNAP program, Medicaid.
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