can find out more about what you may be entitled to and how to access it below. In the meantime, please stay safe, register to get vaccinated if you have not already and continue to support one another to help our community get through this lockdown as soon as possible.

For clarity, 11 Local Government Areas including the Sunshine Coast have been included in this lockdown by the Queensland Government. You can find out more about which areas are included at this link.

Financial Support for Individuals

The Australian Government is committed to standing with South East Queenslanders and all Australians as we make our way through the global pandemic.

South East Queenslanders whose hours of work have been impacted by the current lockdown will be able to claim COVID-19 Disaster Payments back-paid to last Sunday. You can find out more details at this link on the Services Australia website.

Eligible people will receive $750 per week if they have lost 20 or more hours of work, and $450 per week if they have lost between 8 and less than 20 hours of work, or a full day of work. You can check whether you are eligible for this payment if you are not currently receiving Centrelink payments at this link.

The payment will be available to eligible people who live or work in the hotspot areas in Queensland, or who have visited a Commonwealth-declared COVID-19 hotspot. As noted above, 11 Local Government Areas including the Sunshine Coast have been included in the hotspot declaration. You can find out more about which areas are included in the hotspot declaration at this link.

People who currently receive an income support payment can also claim to receive a payment of $200 if they have lost more than 8 hours of work and meet the other eligibility requirements for the COVID-19 Disaster Payment. This payment is additional to their regular income support payment. You can find out whether you are eligible as a Centrelink recipient at this link and find out more about the amounts of the payments here..

The fastest and easiest way to claim is through a myGov account. You can login to myGov or register to get a myGov account if you do not already have one at this link. 

If you do receive payments under this scheme you will have to keep Services Australia up to date as to any change in your circumstances. You can find out more about these obligations here.

More information about financial support available to South East Queenslanders and how to claim are available on the Services Australia website here. 

More than $994 million has already been paid out by the Morrison Government to workers in New South Wales and Victoria and South Australia under this COVID-19 Disaster Payment and payments for Queensland will begin flowing at the beginning of next week.

Your business doesn’t have to be located in South East Queensland, but you must have experienced at least a 30% reduction in turnover as a result of the lockdown. Small and medium businesses are defined as having: a turnover of more than $75,000 per annum and an annual payroll in Queensland of up to $10 million.

Though the Queensland Government’s information on this program is limited at this stage you can find out more at the Business Queensland page here.

Grants will also be available for large businesses in the hospitality and tourism sector operating in the 11 local government areas in the lockdown, subject to meeting eligibility criteria.

The Queensland Government will be opening applications for these grants in mid-August. 

Allowable absences mean a family can choose not to send their child to care, but still receive the Government Child Care Subsidy. The change effectively means that during a lockdown of seven days or more, families won’t need to use their 42 allowable absence days. This means that once a lockdown ends, families will still have allowable absence days to use when their child is sick, or they go on holidays, or they need to keep their child home for any reason.

The measure will apply to around 150,000 families in areas of South East Queensland currently under lockdown. 

The additional allowable absences will be available once a lockdown goes past seven days until the Commonwealth declaration of a hotspot ends. 

As this program is fully rolled out more information will be available on this webpage, or contact your local childcare provider.