Health Minister Mark Butler says the government is monitoring the rise of COVID cases across the country closely, ahead of a snap national cabinet meeting next week.
State and territory leaders will meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday as the government defends its decision to end the pandemic leave payments for workers needing to be isolated due to catching the virus.
The $750 payments finished at the end of June, which Butler said was necessary as the country moved into a new phase of managing the pandemic.
“This is the time it was intended to come off, this is the time it needs to come off … we are looking to do everything we can to reduce incidents of severe illness,” he told ABC Radio on Friday….