Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says Victoria’s ability to respond to the lockdown was behind the federal government’s decision to not offer economic support to the embattled state.
Acting Premier James Merlino confirmed on Wednesday the Victorian Government would request for Commonwealth “JobKeeper-styled” subsidies to boost the state’s economy.
Mr Frydenberg, however, says the Coalition has already provided “unprecedented support” to Victorians and revealed no decision would be made until Commonwealth health officials understood the reasons behind the lockdown.
“We took a position based on the first week of the lockdown which is the state had the capacity to respond to that particular lockdown and they announced $250 million in economic support,” he told Sky News.
“I want to have this conversation with (Victorian Treasurer) Tim Pallas, I want our health officials to understand why they took the decisions they have bearing in mind that states take the decisions to go into lockdown.
“Our track record has been to offer unprecedented support to the people of Victoria, we’ve already delivered more than $45 billion of direct economic support, that’s around three times what the state government has delivered.
“The fact that their unemployment spiked to 7.4 per cent last year but was able to come down to 5.5 per cent in April, that was off the back of very strong federal government support.”