Prime Minister Scott Morrison reckons lockdowns will “become a thing of the past” by Christmas. Speaking to the press on Wednesday afternoon, Morrison said most Australians should be fully vaccinated by the end of the year.

“By the end of the year we will be in that position, where everybody who has had the opportunity will have had it,” he said.

“I would expect by Christmas that we would be seeing a very different Australia to what we are seeing now… Lockdowns become a thing of the past when you are at that level.

“That gets us a roadmap to Christmas, I think, which means we will be living life different at Christmas than we are now.”

Once the majority of Australians are vaccinated the federal government will be able to move into phase two, which will see fully vaccinated people exempt from restrictions and no more lockdowns.

Morrison’s comments come after New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced Greater Sydney and surrounding regions will remain in lockdown for another four weeks. Greater Sydney has been locked down for six weeks already.

Meanwhile, in the same press conference, Scomo announced the government will also be increasing individual disaster payments.

“We will be increasing from next week the maximum payment of $600 to $750 and we will be increasing the payment for less than 20 hours from $375 to $450,” he said.

“In addition to that, we will be extending support to those who are on welfare payments and they will be able to receive a payment, if they have lost more than eight hours, of $200.”