The package received a broad welcome across business.
The Australian Retailers Association which represents the country's biggest store chains as well as thousands of smaller shops said it was a "huge comfort".
"The package is a big leap forward in terms of ensuring 'hibernating' businesses could emerge from the coronavirus crisis with their teams intact," Russell Zimmerman, the association's director, said.
The tourism industry was similarly delighted, calling it a "life saver", particularly after the earlier hammer blow of the bushfires.
Its umbrella body, the Tourism and Transport Forum, had been predicting 300,000 jobs would go.
"The subsidy could go a long way to stemming the flow of those job losses," the Forum's chief executive, Margy Osmond, said.
The Australian Council of Social Service was pleased that the subsidy would include employees of not-for-profit organisations.
Unions welcomed the measure but said they wanted more detail.
"We are concerned that the $1,500 a fortnight subsidy may not be enough," the head of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, said.
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She wanted casuals who had been laid off to be covered as well as visa workers.
Some economists welcomed the package but had doubts about the flat rate payment.
"For millions of workers, that means their employer will receive more than they actually earned," the Director of the Centre for Future Work, Dr Jim Stanford, said.
He thought the measure would "significantly moderate the employment and income consequences of the pandemic".
Dr Stanford said that the Australian wage subsidy was lower than the one being offered in the UK, Denmark, South Korea, the Netherlands, Ireland and Canada.
Economist Chris Richardson described the amount of government spending on it as "mind boggling".
"It adds half as much again to all federal government spending over the next six months. That's a stunning amount of money."
- For information on COVID-19, please go to the ACT Health website or the federal Health Department's website.
- You can also call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
- If you have serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, call Triple Zero (000)
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