The Morrison Government must help fund a universal paid pandemic leave scheme\u00a0to ensure every Australian worker who needs to stay home to prevent the spread of COVID-19 can do so without financial penalty.
\nA paid pandemic leave scheme is a critical measure to protect both workers and public health by preventing further COVID-19 outbreaks. It should have been introduced months ago.
\nWorkers cannot be forced to choose between paying their bills and protecting their colleagues, customers and patients. Whenever we force that choice on people the community is put at risk.
\nVictorian Premier Daniel Andrews has said \u201cabout 80 per cent\u201d of the state\u2019s new infections since mid-May have been \u201d driven by transmission in workplaces.\u201d
\nA universal paid pandemic leave scheme could have prevented some of this terrible toll.
\nUnless we get a universal scheme we will have more community transmission, leading to more outbreaks and economy-smashing lockdowns. We cannot afford not to do this.
\nSome employers have established their own schemes and Labor welcomes that. The Fair Work Commission has also granted paid pandemic leave to some aged care workers, and the Victorian Labor Government has also introduced some payments.
\nBut it must go further. The Government must step in and help fund a scheme to reach all workers.
\nLabor believes the scheme should be available to any worker, regardless of industry or employment status, who needs to be away from work to: undergo a COVID test; isolate while awaiting a result; isolate if a test is positive; or isolate if directed to do so by a public health officer.
\nAn estimated 3.7 million Australians don\u2019t have any access to paid sick leave or the other protections of permanent employment, including casuals, contractors, freelancers, sole traders and gig economy workers. And many permanent workers have exhausted their sick leave entitlements.
\nWithout pandemic leave, many will continue to turn up to work when they\u2019re sick or should be isolating.
\nLabor first called for paid pandemic leave\u00a0on March 10\u00a0\u2013 142 days ago.
\nBut Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter dismissed our call at the time, saying the Government would not\u00a0\u201cjump to a solution in anticipation of a problem\u201d.
\nThe Government says it is now considering the idea.
\nThere is no excuse for any further delay. The Government must act immediately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Morrison Government must help fund a universal paid pandemic leave scheme\u00a0to ensure every Australian worker who needs to stay home to prevent the spread of COVID-19 can do so without financial penalty. A paid pandemic leave scheme is a critical measure to protect both workers and public health by preventing further COVID-19 outbreaks. It … Continue reading “COMMONWEALTH MUST HELP FUND PAID PANDEMIC LEAVE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}