The Federal Government has shot down calls to expand access to the $130 billion JobKeeper payment, which is expected to pass parliament this week.

Under the current plan, only sole traders along with casuals, full and part-time workers who have been employed for more than a year are set to receive the $1,500 per fortnight wage subsidy.

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That leaves 1.1 million workers who have been employed for less than a year or rely on sporadic work shut out of the scheme.

Attorney general, Christian Porter told Sunrise the government isn’t planning on granting them access to JobKeeper, but they will still be able to claim unemployment benefits.

“You have to have some kind of eligibility definitions, even in a package this enormous, he said.

“The definition of casual we’ve used is from the Fair Work Act, which talks about a systemic connection to an employer for 12 months.”

“A casual can still work and earn up to $104 per week without losing a single cent of the JobSeeker payment,” he added.

The scheme would cost an additional $5.7 billion over six months if 1.1 million casual workers collected $400 more each fortnight because they were on JobKeeper rather than JobSeeker.

In the video below: MPs Barnaby Joyce and Joel Fitzgibbon discuss JobKeeper eligibility

Play Video The Federal Government is under pressure to expand access to the $130 billion JobKeeper payment. The Federal Government is under pressure to expand access to the $130 billion JobKeeper payment.

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