Under the plan, businesses will receive $1500 every fortnight for six months per employee, which they’ll be legally obligated to pass onto their workers.
The Senate approved bills to establish the JobKeeper program on Wednesday night, in a bid to save millions of jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the scheme was the biggest economic lifeline in the nation’s history.
“Today is about defending and protecting Australia's national sovereignty,” he told parliament.
More than 730,000 businesses have registered for the program since it was announced last week.
Companies will be eligible if they can demonstrate a 30 per cent drop in turnover due to the virus, with the threshold set at 50 per cent for companies earning over $1 billion.
All full-time and part-time workers will be eligible for the wage, along with casuals that have been employed by the same company for at least a year.
Sole traders and New Zealanders on 444 working visas are also included in the scheme.
Labor and the Greens pushed for the scheme to include more casuals and migrants on temporary work visas, arguing more than one million people in each cohort would be excluded.
“Many needy Australians will miss out,” Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese told the lower house.
But the government rejected the push, declaring a line had to be drawn somewhere.
