26 May 2020

Minister comfortable with difference between Covid-19 payment and regular benefit

From Morning Report, 8:12 am on 26 May 2020

For 12 weeks from the eighth of June, the government will pay up to $490 a week to people who lose their job due to Covid-19, and it estimates around 230,000 people could apply.

The maximum amount available to an individual on the unemployment benefit is almost half, at $250.

So has the government introduced a two-tier system that divides beneficiaries into those deserving and undeserving of assistance?

Carmel Sepuloni is the Minister of Social Development.