Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to add the name of Senator Rice as a co-sponsor of this motion. I, and also on behalf of Senator Rice, move:

That Items 4 to 7 of schedule 1 of the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Amendment Rules (No. 2) 2020, made under Schedule 1 of, be disallowed.

I'm aware that there are differing views on the two issues contained in the disallowance motion. Accordingly, I ask that at the conclusion of this debate the question on this motion be divided with respect to item 4 and items 5 to 7 so that senators may vote differently on item 4, relating to sovereign entities, and items 5 to 7, relating to the higher-education sector.

I rise to speak to my motion that would disallow items 4 to 7 of the government's Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Amendment Rules (No. 2) 2020. These are the amendments the government introduced on 1 May, which further tightened the eligibility for the JobKeeper program. I do this because there are thousands of Australians who deserve better from this government—their government. The COVID-19 health pandemic has rocked the foundations of Australia and of global society. It has closed successful businesses of all shapes and sizes across all industries, left millions of people around the world unemployed, and killed over 100 people in Australia and 400,000 across the world. It will leave a permanent mark on the lives of so many of us.

During periods like this, periods of unprecedented social and economic upheaval, the people of Australia look to us, their democratic leaders, for guidance, for leadership and for support. Throughout this period Labor has consistently called for action to support the economy, in order to protect jobs and to help Australian workers, businesses, families and communities through what has been a once-in-a-generation period of instability.

We know the origin story of JobKeeper. We know that at the outset the government really just wanted to throw Australians on the Centrelink queues. It was only because of continued pressure from the Labor opposition, the crossbench, the Australian trade union movement and the business community that this government announced that it would introduce a wage subsidy scheme, one that would give companies and workers certainty and support.

When Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced JobKeeper, the Treasurer said: 'Australians know that their government has their back.' But it very quickly became apparent that JobKeeper would not have the backs of hundreds of thousands of Australians and their families, which is why, when it was legislated, Labor moved amendments to ensure that key groups of workers were protected, including over one million casual workers; gig workers in transport and other areas; workers in the arts, in education and in local governments around the country; and migrant workers and international students, who pay tax and who came here in good faith. These amendments were defeated by a government uninterested in helping taxpaying Australian workers.

Since then, we've urged the Treasurer repeatedly to use his extraordinary powers to extend JobKeeper payments to those left behind. Instead, he has chosen to exclude even more workers. This program, which was meant to support workers, to keep them connected to their employers and, in turn, stimulate the economy, has instead been made so piecemeal that it is failing in its purpose.

The government promised an economic compact with the Australian people. It promised to support some six million workers—a number they trumpeted. Now, after their accounting blunder was exposed, we know it is just three million. Australian workers have been short-changed by this heartless government, which has broken its compact with the people of Australia.

The JobKeeper program began on 30 March 2020, but, on 1 May, the government moved to exclude Australian workers in universities and Australian workers whose companies are ultimately owned by a foreign sovereign entity. It was an outrageous and cruel stroke of a pen that has left thousands and thousands of families out in the cold. The higher education sector, a sector that employs roughly 260,000, may, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, see some 21,000 workers unemployed. These workers include cleaners, security staff, caterers and administrators working across Australia's universities, and the academics, the many that teach so many important people across the economy. They are workers in our suburbs and in our regions, the places hardest hit by the economic turmoil of the pandemic. These workers have done nothing wrong and yet the government has now on three occasions changed the regulations to make it impossible for universities to meet the thresholds for JobKeeper, depriving these hardworking Australians of the support they need during this shutdown. I want to commend the National Tertiary Education Union, their leadership and their president, Alison Barnes, for their steadfast advocacy for these workers, doing everything they can to keep them in secure jobs.

I want to focus now on those Australian workers who are shut out of the sovereign entity provisions. Let's be very clear about what the government has done: in 2018 they approved the sale of Qantas's Q Catering to dnata, a catering company owned by the Emirates airlines, which is itself owned by the UAE government. Now they want to turn around and effectively punish these workers for this decision. It is no fault of these workers what the ultimate ownership structure of the company is. It is a well-known feature of the aviation industry around the world that there are high levels of government ownership. This is how aviation works. In any case, it should not matter. They are Australian workers. They pay income tax, like everyone else, to this government. They expect the government to treat them equally and fairly.

JobKeeper is an Australian wage subsidy. The money is going into the pockets of Australian workers, not foreign governments. This government, instead, wants to split hairs about ownership structures and shareholdings. Qantas workers are getting JobKeeper. Even Swissport, an aviation firm employing thousands of Australians, opaquely owned by the Chinese government—through HNA's takeover—are getting JobKeeper. These aviation workers are getting this support because Australian workers are Australian workers. Full stop.

Dnata employs over 5,500 workers across nine Australian airports, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Darwin, Coolangatta, Avalon, Perth and Cairns. Many of them worked previously for Qantas, before it sold its catering business to dnata. These workers were amongst the very first hit by the coronavirus lockdowns, when the government made the decision to shut aviation down. It was hard, but they accepted this was a public health emergency. Subsequently, they were told by their employer that it would be okay, that they would get JobKeeper and they would have jobs on the other side of this crisis. Dnata had to stand down 90 per cent of their workforce and employ only a skeleton crew.

Then JobKeeper was announced, and the company was 'invited to apply'. Some workers even received payments from their employers in the expectation they would be receiving JobKeeper. Many cancelled jobseeker applications, looking forward to getting back to work and the certainty that JobKeeper payments would provide them and their families. They were playing by the rules, only to have the government move the goalposts on them mid-game. The lunacy—that workers who hand you the meal on a flight can receive the support, but the workers who make the meal are denied it. It is hard to describe this situation as anything short of these workers being double-crossed by their own government. Cancelling their applications has cost them time and money they can ill-afford.

I want to pay tribute to the incredible work of the Transport Workers Union of Australia and the Australian Services Union, who represent these workers, and, importantly, the workers themselves who are standing up. The workers at dnata have no control over who owns their company. They work for a company that is sovereign owned by another country. But they are Australian workers, and after a lifetime of work and paying tax they deserve our support. The decision to exclude these workers is harsh and lacks compassion and logic. It impacts not only these workers but also their partners, families and communities.

This decision has created such unnecessary and harmful stress to workers and their families. It's even more harsh after a $60-billion JobKeeper accounting error by the government was revealed only a few weeks ago. I'm pleased to acknowledge that at least one member of the government, the member for Hughes, Craig Kelly, has joined with me in supporting the case of the dnata workers. He acknowledges, as do many members and senators, that these workers could easily be included within the original funding envelope provided for the program.

This is a heartless decision that hurts Australians, Australians like Nelly and Darlene. Nelly was made a permanent employee of Q Catering in 1980. She took pride in her job. She says in writing to me:

Keeping myself mentally and physically active, continuing to be a provider for my family and also working with my team, who after 40 years had become my family away from family.

Sacrificing time away from actual family for all of those years to be able to contribute to something greater, knowing I wasn’t a burden on society also filled me with satisfaction.

I have never asked nor received family assistance from the government. I didn't ever plan to.

Unfortunately, as of March this year, we were all asked to 'step down' from our jobs.

Four decades working for Qantas, wiped clean because the company had sold to a foreign entity. Something we came to find out the Australian government approved before it could be sold.

Now 4 months into Covid 19, having paid taxes for over 40 years regardless of who owned the company, not only was I out of work, unable to qualify for assistance I should have been entitled to and left revaluating all of my life's hard work and sacrifices to this point, I felt helpless, broken and unsure of what to do next.

She is not eligible for jobseeker and, because of this government, she has been excluded from JobKeeper.

Another dnata worker, Darlene, also contacted me this week. This is what she had to say:

My grandfather served in world war one and world war two. My grand uncle died on the battlefield in Polygon wood Belgium 26/09/1917 serving in world war one. My father passed away last year from illness received serving with the Australian Navy in Korea, yet you don't consider me to be Australian enough to receive JobKeeper. Please explain what your requirements are to be classed Australian. The Australian government allowed this sale to go through yet are punishing and sacrificing us for their poor decisions. You can help us to right this wrong. Please give us JobKeeper.

Well, the Prime Minister likes to talk about quiet Australians. He likes to talk about a fair go. If you have a go, you get a go. Where is the go for Nelly, Darlene and their families? Where is the backing of these quiet Australians? If the JobKeeper allowance is not for them, it's not worthy of the name and would be more appropriately called 'JobFaker'. And this government is not worthy of a name either.