Queues stretch down the street outside a Centrelink office on the Gold Coast.Credit:AAP
The government's leader in the Senate,Mathias Cormann,said the power gave the government"the flexibility to continue to scale our response to the coronavirus crisis if and as required".
As part of that response,the government is also reviewing whether to extend the payments to some of the 1.6 million temporary workers in Australia,many of whom work in the hardest hit industries,including hospitality.
About 10 per cent of skilled visas were sponsored by the accommodation and hospitality industry last year with another 6.6 per cent in the construction trade.
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Senator Ruston said for those on the"pathway to citizenship"the government had decided to waive the formal waiting period to become an Australian citizen to let people access welfare payments and was considering giving migrants access to the catch-all Special Benefits welfare payment for those in severe financial hardship.
About 120,000 people have applied for citizenship,but many are not within the formal waiting period.
And for those on temporary skilled worker visas,Senator Ruston said she was working on"what options there are available to assist those people".
Workers on temporary skills shortage visas have at most 90 days to leave the country if they lose their job and can not find new work in Australia.
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Those who are unable to leave,which is set to become increasingly difficult as Qantas ends international flights at the end of the month and other airlines drastically restrict their routes,face being put in immigration detention and deported.
Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge said on Friday if anyone on a visa that was set to expire found themselves unable to leave Australia they could contact the Department of Home Affairs,which would"deal with those individual cases".
There are more than half a million New Zealanders living and working in Australia,according to Home Affairs data. Those who arrived after February 2001 cannot access the social security system.
Labor's immigration spokeswoman Kristina Keneally has called on the government to extend coronavirus support payments to immigrants to ensure they can afford to stay home if sick.
"They could be left with no choice but to unknowingly spread the virus as they are forced to keep
working or keep seeking work,"Senator Keneally said.