Mr Rorris welcomed the doubling of unemployment benefits but warned handouts to business with no conditions to stop them sacking workers could prove dire.

"We need to extend the [benefits package] as broadly as possible and couple it with rent/mortgage relief as well as a moratorium on utility bills," he said.

"But we also have to make sure the Qantas case cannot be repeated; getting hundreds of millions of dollars from the public purse one day and standing down 20,000 workers the next."

Mr Rorris described the "ugly" as indemnifying corporate bosses against insolvent trading charges.

"Who will pick up the tab for wages and entitlements? "What are the implications for the $90 billion credit lifeline from the RBA?"

As for the absurd, Mr Rorris questioned the government's lack of movement on a total shutdown.

"Why haven't they locked the place down yet?" he said.

Meanwhile, the Australian Council of Trade Unions welcomed the acknowledgement of the pressures being faced by casual and contract workers and those stood down without pay, but expressed concerns about the lack of a guarantee that businesses keep people in jobs and use tax withheld for wages.

The ACTU called for further wage subsidies, with president Michele O'Neill saying "getting money into the pockets of working people is vital, not just to keeping the economy going but also, to ensure people take the steps they need to prevent the spread of coronavirus."

"Today's announcements will help some casuals and contractors who have already lost work, lost income and are already struggling," she said.

"Keeping people in work, while they are able to self-isolate, is vital and we welcome the government's attempts in this package but urge them to go further".

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