Centrelink is floundering as an influx of panicked Australians overwhelms its services.
Highlights:
-Parliament passed 10 pieces of legislation and 24 stimulus measures.
-5000 more workers deployed at Centrelink to deal with demand.
-A stimulus to provide an extra $550 a fortnight for unemployed sole traders and casual workers.
The federal government initially blamed a cyber attack for downing its website, but Minister for Government Services Stuart Robert later retracted the claim.
Minister Robert says the portal was overloaded, as it can only handle 55 000 users at once.
We've been preparing for a large influx of Australians who haven't yet used Centrelink services before. Over the weekend we took our number of users from MyGov from an average 6000 concurrent to what is now 55,000 concurrent users. We've put a tenfold increase on our digital channels over the weekend in preparation.
An extra 5000 staff have reportedly been deployed to cope with the unprecedented demand across Centrelink's services.
A scaled-down parliament convened on Monday and passed a second stimulus package protecting workers and small businesses as they face an inevitable income loss.
The two stimulus packages together represent over $83 billion dollars injected into the Australian economy.
Under the new measures, the maximum Jobseeker Payment will be doubled, providing an extra $550 a fortnight for unemployed sole traders and casual workers.
Additional measures include cash payments of up to $100,000 for small businesses and an additional $750 payment to Australians not eligible for the new coronavirus supplement.
Plans to allow workers to access $10,000 per year from their superannuation were abandoned, as Labor pointed out the impact it would have on workers' retirement savings.
As per the advisory, only people who have recently travelled from overseas or have been in contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case and experienced symptoms within 14 days are advised to be tested.
Coronavirus symptoms can range from mild illness to pneumonia, according to the Federal Government's website, and can include a fever, coughing, sore throat, fatigue and shortness of breath.
If you believe you may have contracted the virus, call your doctor, don’t visit, or contact the national Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.
If you are struggling to breathe or experiencing a medical emergency, call 000.
