The New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is urging her Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, to allow New Zealand citizens living and working in Australia access to welfare benefits as the Covid-19 pandemic triggers mass unemployment across the country.
Speaking on Tuesday, Ardern said she had raised the issue directly with Morrison, with a specific request for a “a short-term exemption” to Centrelink restrictions on the more than 650,000 New Zealanders living and working in Australia.
I have raised this issue with prime minister Morrison. I have specifically sought … a short-term exemption, just for these exceptional circumstances for New Zealanders to be supported, not least because it will encourage compliance at a time when we need everyone to be self-isolating if they had to, for instance,” Ardern said.
That is not something that has happened at this time, but it is something that has been raised by both the deputy prime minister and myself with our counterparts.”
Labor also urged the government to use expanded powers endorsed by the Senate on Monday night to allow the more than 1.6 million temporary visa holders in Australia immediate access to special benefit payments to prevent hundreds of “trapped” migrants who lose work becoming destitute.The social services minister, Anne Ruston, said on Tuesday that under new regulations passed by the parliament, she was able to make any necessary changes to the payment system to deal with the “evolving situation” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, including in relation to special benefits.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/24/jacinda-ardern-asks-for-coronavirus-relief-for-new-zealanders-banned-from-australias-welfare
