Early Morning Line Forms at Melbourne Welfare Office as Businesses Forced to Shut
Long lines of people waited outside a government welfare office in Melbourne on Tuesday, March 24, after the announcement of lockdown measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia led to widespread business closures.
It was the second day of long lines at Centrelink offices across the country after the government announced a shutdown for non-essential businesses including bars, gyms, indoor sporting venues, casinos and night clubs.
In this video, filmed early on the Tuesday morning, a line of people can be seen outside a Centrelink office in Windsor, a Melbourne suburb,
On Monday, the government’s central website for welfare and other services crashed due to the spike in demand. People again reported difficulties accessing the site on Tuesday.
The Australian government increased payments to jobseekers and people on unemployment benefits on March 23.
There were 1,823 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia on the morning of March 24, an increase of 344 from the previous day, according to health authorities. Credit: konstantina.com.au via Storyful
