Australia unveils "job keeper" payments to keep economy running

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday committed an A$130 billion ($79.86 billion) package to help save jobs as shockwaves from the coronavirus pandemic rip through the economy. The package includes an A$1,500 ($923.10) "job keeper" payment to be paid to employers every two weeks, for each worker under the scheme.

"Our goal is to protect the lives and livelihoods," Morrison said in a televised briefing from Canberra. "We will pay employers to pay their employees and make sure they do, to keep them in the businesses that employ them and to ensure they can get ready together to bounce back on the other side." ($1 = 1.6279 Australian dollars)