The Prime Minister remains under mounting pressure from all sides to continue financial support for people with COVID-19 in isolation, but has declared the government will continue to follow health advice.
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Anthony Albanese and Health Minister Mark Butler were briefed on Friday by senior health officials, as the country's first ministers, opposition, crossbench and members of his own party called for the government to reverse the June 30 cutoff of $750 support payments.
"The past week has seen more than double the number of Australians stepping up to get their booster shots and a rapid rise in the use of anti-virals," Mr Albanese said.
"We know the COVID pandemic is not over and people should continue to act in accordance with the health advice.
"The government will continue to address issues based upon the health advice that we have received.
"We want to keep the economy open and the key to that is limiting the health impact on Australians."
The Nationals leader has told the Prime Minister it's a "no brainer" decision to continue financial support for people with COVID-19, particularly for people in regional and rural areas.
David Littleproud said the new government had had weeks to get advice, and only seeking advice now amid mounting pressure from state and territory leaders showed how out of touch with real Australians Labor was.
"You have to understand that this is a fluid situation, it has been fluid for the last two and a half years - have they learnt nothing?" Mr Littleproud told ACM.
"Why are they actually erring on this? This is a no brainer."
Anthony Albanese and his front bench have defended ending the pandemic payment as a decision planned by the previous Coalition government while leaving the new Labor government with a trillion-dollar debt.
Mr Littleproud said the Coalition understood the payments were a temporary measure, but the Prime Minister was "pontificating" while putting people at risk.
"If you're struggling to pay your bills and put food on the table, you're going to risk it and you're simply going to put other people at risk by continuing to go to work because you have to.
"It just goes to show this mob isn't as in touch with the Australian people and the battlers out there as they say they were."
The Greens warn the risks of infection at work will "spiral out of control" and have promised Labor their support in parliament to extend the pandemic payments and free rapid antigen tests beyond July.
"The pandemic is still with us, case numbers are rising and people need support," Greens leader Adam Bandt said.
"In light of the new strains, case numbers, health advice and strain on hospitals, the government should minimise spread by supporting sick people to stay home."
While still in Fiji, the Prime Minister said he would give consideration to all the issues around the payments, but it was the previous government who set the end date.
"We inherited these decisions, but we also inherited a trillion dollars of debt and that's something that was not our responsibility." Mr Albanese told reporters on Friday.
"Good employers are recognising that people are continuing to work from home whilst they have COVID and are receiving, therefore, payments through that. What's happening over a period of time, is that the economy and the way that we work is adjusting to the circumstances which are there."
He will receive advice from the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, on arrival back in Australia later on Friday, leaving open the possibility of a change of mind. His ministers have stuck to the message that the government had made a decision not to continue the payments and that was where the matter stayed.
Mr Albanese has also agreed to an emergency national cabinet meeting to be held on Monday, requested by several premiers.
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Premiers of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania have called for the payment to be extended, at least through winter, while rising case numbers leave workplaces with staff shortages.
Labor ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has joined the pressure on Mr Albanese to reconsider a temporary extension of free home rapid antigen testing and the seven-day isolation payments in some cases.
"A short extension of the COVID-19 Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment, until the end of winter, should be considered to help workers who have no sick leave entitlements - including pandemic, sick leave or personal leave - and are required to self-isolate or quarantine due to COVID," Mr Barr said.
"A modified, and less costly, version of the concessional RAT scheme should be considered to ensure vulnerable community members can still access free RATs when they need them."
Mr Barr welcomed the Commonwealth's expanded eligibility for anti-virus COVID treatments to all Australians aged 70 and over, and urged behaviours that would protect themselves and others, such as working from home if practical, wearing masks in environments where physical distancing is not practical, as well as staying up to date with vaccination boosters.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet was open to splitting the funding for the payments with the government as ending them was unfair on members of the public who had no choice but to lose work.
"I'm very open to doing everything we can at the state level to support our people through this next phase of the pandemic," Mr Perrottet told reporters in Sydney.
"I think it is unfair, that when the state imposes public health orders on people to restrict their liberty and their capacity to work for the government to not provide financial support."
He said set-and-forget policies had never been applied in the pandemic, but also recognised the financial implications on the Commonwealth and state level were under pressure.
"We've always tailored the circumstances."