The Federal Government has announced a $1.1 billion package for mental health, domestic violence, Medicare and emergency food services.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the new support measures would be rolled out immediately to deal with broader effects of the health and economic crisis.
The bulk of the money will go to the expansion of telehealth subsidies.
$669 million will allow all Australians to consult their GP and other health practitioners by phone or using video-conferencing, such as FaceTime or Skype.
An initial $150 million will support Australians experiencing domestic, family and sexual violence due to the fallout from coronavirus.
Millions more cash will go to charities such as food banks, and mental health services.
The Prime Minister said the rate of coronavirus cases has dropped since last week.
“This time last week the rate of increase on cases was up around 25 to 30 per cent a day,” Mr Morrison said.
“That rate over the last few days has fallen to about 13 – 15 per cent.”
“They are still strong rates of increase, no doubt about that, but because we take the measures we have been taking and put them in place and we have the cooperation from the Australian people, that in turn has an impact on how we are managing the spread of the virus.”
Health minister, Greg Hunt said the figures are a positive sign.
“We have so much more work to do but, by people isolating, by people doing able to social distance and they are really doing this, Australians are rising magnificently to this challenge.”
