Factcheck: are Coalition claims Labor’s pandemic policies would have cost an extra $81bn accurate?

Scott Morrison has backed up Covid claim first made by Simon Birmingham, but shadow finance minister dismisses numbers as ‘dodgy’

The Morrison government has argued that Labor cannot be trusted to manage the federal budget.

Scott Morrison and the finance minister, Simon Birmingham, have both claimed Labor’s pandemic policies would have cost an extra $81bn since 2020.

The $300 vaccine incentive payment for those who received both doses of the vaccine, at a cost of $6bn

Free rapid antigen tests “for all”, which the Coalition estimated to cost $5bn

Expanding the eligibility of jobkeeper to 2 million more people, including short-term casuals and visa-holders, estimated to cost $25bn

Maintaining $1,500 payments for all jobkeeper recipients rather than tapering down and lowering rates for part-time workers ($10bn)

Extending jobkeeper for a further quarter to June 2021 ($10bn)

Maintaining coronavirus supplement payments at the $550-a-fortnight rate to March 2021, then $350 to June 2021 ($25bn)

Read the original article at The Guardian