Pensioners to pocket $750 as government pumps $18B into economy amid coronavirus

Pensioners are set to pocket a cash sum of $750, as part of a $17.629 billion package intended to prop up the country’s economy amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the news just minutes ago as he outlined the details of the Coalition’s economic stimulus package, confirming that a total of 2.4 million age pensioners would receive a cash payment, along with those who receive other welfare payments such as Newstart and Carer’s Allowance.

The payment will automatically begin to flow to the 6.5 million eligible Australians from March 31, with the government hoping it will then be spent across the economy.

“It’s a health crisis with very significant economic impacts,” Morrison said just minutes ago. “The fiscal stimulus that is necessary to deal wth the economic challenges has been an important part of our plan for Australia to move through the challenges of coronavirus in the months ahead.”

The PM was joined by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this morning as the duo unveiled the highly-anticipated package, which has quashed the Coalition’s hopes of delivering a budget surplus this year.

Frydenberg outlined six key measures that form the package, including the one-off cash payment, as well as the decision to reduce both the lower and upper deeming rates in line with the Reserve Bank’s recent decision to lower the cash rate to a historic low of 0.5 per cent. The treasurer stated that more than 560,000 age pensioners also stand to benefit from this change, with the extra cash set to start flowing into peoples bank accounts from May 1.

“The lower deeming rate will be cut from 1.0 per cent to 0.5 per cent for financial investments up to $51,800 for single pensioners and $86,200 for pensioner couples,” Senator Anne Ruston said, following the announcement. “The upper rate, which only impacts about 40 per cent of payment recipients with deemed assets, will decrease from 3.0 per cent to 2.5 per cent.”

The government will also establish a $1 billion coronavirus fund designed to target the areas of the economy most heavily by the spread of COVID-19, including the tourism sector. The fund will include the waiver of certain fees and charges for tourism businesses operating in Commonwealth National Parks, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, as well as a boost to promotion of domestic tourism.

However businesses will be the biggest beneficiaries of the package, as Frydenberg said that “$3 out of $4 spent will go to backing business and keeping Australians in jobs”. Small and medium sized businesses will receive up to $25,000 and instant tax relief, while wage assistance will also be provided for 117,000 apprentices and trainees nationwide.

It came after the World Health Organization announced it was characterising the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on Wednesday evening, as the number of confirmed cases and deaths continues to rise globally.

“WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom said. “We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterised as a pandemic.

“Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.”

The announcement also follows yesterday’s announcement by the prime minister and Health Minister Greg Hunt that the government has committed a seperate sum of $2.4 billion for a health plan, which includes cash allocations for increased national support, public education, testing and research as the virus continues to spread globally.

The PM said that the package will be demand driven and include funding for pop-up fever clinics, bulk-billed video consultations and a mobile app to help prepare the country for the possibility of a pandemic, as the country works to remain in “containment mode”.

While Hunt also outlined further details of the health plan and revealed that the government is also establishing a telehealth system that will provide Australians, particularly those under isolation, with updates on the coronavirus. It will also help vulnerable Australians, such as elderly residents, pregnant women or those who are immunocompromised, to keep abreast of updates, without having to go into hopsital or medical environments where they may be at risk of contamination.

Hunt also announced that $30 million will also be committed to research into areas such as immunotherapy and vaccinations.