As a cruise ship with more than 100 positive COVID-19 cases on board docked in Sydney on Wednesday, Jim Chalmers said the government could not afford to continue on with the schemes in the wake of budget pressures,Â
Dr Chalmers said both support mechanisms were designed to end at some point.
"To restart them would cost a considerable cost of money," he told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday.
"We have tried to be upfront with people and say that some of these important programs that have existed in the recent past, which are designed to end in the near future, we can't afford to extend all of them."
Pandemic leave payments for infected workers who have to isolate ended on June 30 and the free tests for concession holders will finish at the end of July.
The program, which provided 10 free rapid tests to concession card holders every three months, was introduced in January at the height of the first Omicron wave when the tests were in short supply.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged those eligible for the free tests to get them while the scheme was still in place.
"I'd encourage concession card holders to go and get the 10 free rapid antigen tests that they're eligible for by the end of this month," he told ABC radio.
"On top of that, there are free rapid antigen tests available in aged care facilities across a range of areas."
Mr Albanese said the end date for the free tests was set by the previous coalition government.
Meanwhile, the Coral Princess cruise ship carrying more than 100 crew and passengers who have tested positive for COVID-19 has docked in Sydney.
After departing Eden on the NSW South Coast, the ship with more than 2300 people on board, berthed at Circular Quay just before dawn on Wednesday.
It will remain there for a day before returning to its home port of Brisbane.
Passengers will have to record a negative RAT result before disembarking. The crew must remain on board.
The outbreak on the ship mostly involves infected crew members, with 114 in isolation on Tuesday.
Four passengers were also isolating after returning positive test results. Some 24 people got off the ship before it left Brisbane on Monday.
NSW Health believes the passengers who tested positive probably took the virus on board with them rather than becoming infected at sea.
A Princess Cruises spokesman said the crew members who tested positive in a recent full screening were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms.
At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, another Princess cruise liner - the Ruby Princess - had a major outbreak of the virus that led to 28 deaths.
LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:
NSW: 10,622 cases, 15 deaths, 2023 in hospital with 61 in ICU
Victoria: 11,176 cases, 20 deaths, 739 in hospital with 36 in ICU
Tasmania: 1780 cases, two deaths, 106 in hospital with four in ICU
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