Australia will offer parents free child care to prevent workers from having to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the A$1.6 billion (£790 million) package, which would cover the next three months.
The funding, sourced from taxpayer subsidies, would allow thousands of childcare centres to stay open, Mr Morrison said on Thursday.
“We will be putting in place support arrangements to the childcare facilities, some 13,000 of them, to ensure they will be able to remain open and will be there for parents to ensure they can do what they need to do each day,” he said.
Like many countries, Australia’s financial and jobs markets have been roiled by the outbreak, prompting the government to unveil several stimulus packages.
Mr Morrison said 113,000 businesses had registered for a A$130 billion (£65.19 billion) six-month wage subsidy designed to stop spiralling unemployment and business closures.
Before the child care package was announced, the “job keeper” allowance has brought the country’s coronavirus-related stimulus so far to A$320 billion, or about 15 per cent of Australia’s gross domestic product.
Economists forecast the country’s first recession in almost three decades.
Australia has confirmed that 5,105 have tested positive coronavirus, 345 have recovered and 23 have died after contracting the virus
The Government has imposed similar restriction to the UK and instructed people to stay inside unless shopping for food or taking exercise while it tries to contain the outbreak.
