Mr Morrison denied the additional funding indicated the aged care sector was previously unprepared for the pandemic. As of 4pm on Thursday, 285 people in residential care and seven in home care have died of coronavirus.
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"This is a continuation of programs that were already running and that we now anticipate will be running longer," the Prime Minister told reporters, adding he "wouldn't say $850 million up until this point has been an under-investment".
$40b investment
National cabinet was briefed by Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe and Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy on Friday, with Dr Lowe asking the states and territories to invest an extra $40 billion into the country's coronavirus response over the next two years.
"I have been fairly candid and open with the states and territories that where there is a need for further subsidies ... as a consequence of state borders, then obviously we would be [asking] states to share that load," Mr Morrison said.
He nominated jobs as the No.1 economic issue for Australia in the pandemic, saying the nation would be focusing on three economic responses: income support, infrastructure programs and capital works, and "greater ease" for business and investment.
"We stay open, we keep people in jobs and we keep investing in the things that can enable us to go forward," he said.
Hotspots and interstate travel
The next national cabinet meeting will involve Australian Health Protection Principal Committee advice on what constitutes a hotspot as well as the creation of a code to allow agricultural workers to travel interstate.
Speaking on the idea of a national standard for hotspot classification – pertinent for situations such as the Queensland border, which bans all ACT residents despite the territory not having recorded a case in weeks – Mr Morrison said although the classification would possibly not be mandatory it would be "odd" for a leader to make rules different to it.
"If people were operating outside of it, it would be very clear," he said, adding that the term needed a "clear medical and scientific definition".
An agricultural workers code, similar to the existing freight code, will also be developed for the next national cabinet meeting in response to border frustrations expressed by the sector.
Flight caps
However, there would be no changes to Australia's international flight caps, despite thousands of expats being unable to come home unless they pay business class.
"I want to stress that 4000 Australians are still returning every week, every single week," Mr Morrison said.
The caps would continue to be reviewed fortnightly, and he hoped that, with declining case numbers in Victoria, the state would soon be able to take people into its hotel quarantine system again, relieving pressure on other states and possibly allowing for an increase.
'Simply magnificent'
Mr Morrison said this week's national cabinet meeting was buoyed by plans to secure potential vaccines and lower case numbers across all states.
Victoria logged 179 new cases in the past 24 hours and nine deaths, its lowest case figure since July 13, while NSW reported only one new case.
Mr Morrison praised NSW's public health response to the pandemic as "simply magnificent" and confirmed the national cabinet's support of a suppression strategy.
"That's the position of my government and that's the position of the national cabinet," he said.
He said NSW's result should give hope to Australians "that the suppression strategy can be successfully pursued".
"I think they demonstrate the way forward as to how these things can be managed," he added.
Mary Ward is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.
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