The South Australian coastal town of Robe dodged COVID-19 for most of the pandemic but once borders opened and tourists flocked to the town, the disease hit hard.
Daisy Hooper headed home to her family farm near Robe for Christmas. By January 2, she had COVID.
The 23-year-old works as a casual at a marketing agency and does not have access to sick leave.
Unable to return to her home in Adelaide, she needed financial support.
"I have rent, I've got a car payment, phone bills," Ms Hooper said.
Federal government data shows the number of COVID-19 cases is higher in those aged 20 to 29 — a group that makes up a large part of the casual workforce.
Much of that workforce has been in isolation and without a steady income as cases rise around the country.
Ms Hooper went to apply for the federal government's Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment on the Services Australia website.
Ms Hooper said she waited 12 days for her payment, and it was only after the ABC contacted Services Australia that she finally received financial relief.
She said young people would struggle with the changing eligibility criteria.
The relief provided by the Commonwealth has varied from state to state, as has the criteria for isolating, testing, and close-exposure sites.
"Nothing really makes sense to me with all the changes every day; it's not rational," Ms Hooper said.
"It's a bit ridiculous that [the government] thinks they're being clear and concise to people."
No payments for leave entitled?
Those who have some form of leave balance with their employer, that could cover a full seven-day day isolation period, cannot get the Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment.
Full-time nurse Bryn Zerna worked over the Christmas period in one of Adelaide's largest public hospitals.
He caught COVID heading into his five-day weekend, which had to be extended an extra seven days due to the virus.
Mr Zerna was not sure if he contracted the virus from work or from community exposure so he went looking at financial options.
"It was a grey area over how I would get some sort of payment, whether it be from SA Health or elsewhere," he said.
He believed he was entitled to various types of leave from his own workplace. As a frontline health worker, he thought he should be eligible for federal government COVID relief payments.
Reading the fine print
Aidan McCarthy, a community lawyer with Social Security Rights Victoria, was concerned about young people possibly missing important details in the fine print or unknowingly making mistakes in the application process.
"It is always a little bit difficult to work out if you are eligible for income support from Centrelink or not," Mr McCarthy said.
"Because these particular payments are required urgently and the process for getting them is less intense than other pensions, things could go wrong.
On January 10, Services Australia made the decision to require proof of a positive COVID-19 test for the person applying, or the COVID-positive person in your home that has pushed you into isolation.
'People are ready to give you COVID'
In Melbourne, casual retail employee Meaghan Sinclair, 27, said she had been on several different government relief payments since the pandemic began.
Her housemate recently tested positive for COVID-19, and as Ms Sinclair was deemed a close contact she had to isolate immediately and could not work.
Like Ms Hooper, Ms Sinclair was computer literate but said the application process confused her.
"There were a lot of pages you had to click through to apply for it. It's a physical form that you upload as a PDF, I had no idea what to do with it," she said.
From Tuesday, the application for Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment will be linked to customers' Centrelink profiles.
The general manager of Services Australia, Hank Jongen, said the new process would streamline applications and help long waiting times.
"The new claim form means people will be able to lodge a claim online through MyGov. This will not only make it easier to claim but easier for us to process," Mr Jongen said.
The new application form would only be available to those who began isolation by January 18.
Ms Sinclair said she was "winging it" and hoped to receive her payment soon, but she did have concerns about the next few months for people her age.
"It's not promising because this is the start as workers are going to be isolating — especially if you work in retail or hospitality, you are more or less out there," she said.
