Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

That is something that is very hard to estimate. I'm not in a position to put a figure on it. It does depend upon the extent to which lockdowns, or other such restrictions that trigger these sorts of payments, ultimately end up being necessary. Our hope is that they will be minimised as much as possible. The modelling work of the Doherty Institute and the evidence and science that the government is seeking to follow seek to put Australia in a position where we're able to continue to save lives and protect Australians whilst minimising the need for those restrictions as much as possible over that time line and to progressively get to a point where the restrictions that would trigger these payments become less and less likely.