Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says Premier Daniel Andrews’ claim, “some are from Victoria but not for Victoria” sounds like a “desperate distraction from a premier under real pressure”.
“The Victorian government has shown a callous indifference to the loss of jobs in Victoria and to the plight of small business,” he told Sky News.
“In New South Wales they had more cases than we have in Victoria today, yet they were able to open the cafes, the pubs, the clubs and the restaurants and to get people back to work.”
Mr Frydenberg said there had been “consistent and sustained” criticism of Victoria’s handling of the crisis.
“More than 1,000 people in Victoria are losing their job everyday of this lockdown on average,” he said.
“Now Victoria with 26 per cent of Australia’s population makes up 40 per cent of those effectively unemployed across the country.
"Billions of dollars are going from the federal coffers into Victoria to support – as we should and we will – Victorians through this crisis which started with those failures at hotel quarantine."
