More than eight million Australians collectively clenched their sphincters in anxious unison last week, as the plan to gradually scale back the JobKeeper and JobSeeker schemes finally became a reality. In Victoria, where about 1.4 million of those recipient Australians are located, the sensation was especially heightened, owing largely to the fact that the state is still subject to some of the most severe lockdown measures seen internationally over the course of the pandemic. 

The notion of frugality that guides the reduction is reasonable in the abstract, especially given the massive cost that the pandemic has already inflicted on the national budget.