- National Cabinet meets today (10am). They will be briefed by Treasury Secretary Kennedy, RBA chief Lowe, and APRA chief Byres.
- Prime Minister Morrison has flagged changes to JobKeeper will be forthcoming after the review in June, saying that some ‘anomalies and issues’ need to be addressed.
- The SMH reports that the review will consider extending the September 27 cut-off with tightened eligibility.
- Labor have internal differences over JobKeeper, according to David Crowe in SMH:
- shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers’ proposal for extending to universities and foreign state-owned enterprises was not properly costed and didn’t go through normal shadow cabinet processes, prompting friction within Labor.
- Fair Work Commission chief Iain Ross has canvassed the deferral of minimum wage increases for some businesses based on Covid-19 impacts. (Australian)
- ACCI has urged a deferral until mid-2021; Labor and the ACTU have stated firm opposition to any deferral.
- Transport Minister McCormack has said that Virgin Australia should be sold to a private company rather than Qld Govt; colleagues Dutton and Littleproud have been very critical of Qld govt proposal; and the Qld LNP has declared opposition to govt bid. (Australian)
- New Zealand govt has announced in their Budget a NZ$50b fund to combat Covid-19.
- NZ economy will contract by 4.6% this year, unemployment peak at 9.8% this year, and govt debt (currently 30% GDP) peak at 54% in 2023.
- Polling by Australia Institute in Eden Monaro (without using candidate names) finds ALP ahead of Coalition 51.1/48.8. (AFR)
- Julia Gillard has been appointed chair of UK-based research investment giant Wellcome Trust, and will use the role to call for an investigation into the Covid-19 outbreak. (ABC)
