Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

One of the things that this pandemic has done is expose some very significant pre-existing fault lines in our economy and our society. Too many Australians have found themselves on the wrong side of these fault lines. One of those fault lines is casual and insecure work, where people who may be feeling sick or displaying symptoms of COVID are placed in the most invidious of positions. They are placed in a position where on one hand they want to stay home and do the right thing by themselves and by our community, minimising the risk of transmission. On the other hand they know that, if they stay home, they won't get paid. They won't be able to pay their rent. They won't be able to put food on the table for their families. They won't be able to do all those things that we all take for granted in here but for many Australians are a matter of day-to-day decisions—and the most difficult of decisions at that.

We know, particularly from the Victorian experience, that insecure work is driving a health crisis in this country, because so many millions of Australians have no paid sick leave and they lose income, as I said, if they don't go do work. We know the dangers posed by workplace transmission of COVID. We know that workplace transmission in Victoria was the most significant driver of the second wave of infections, which is still seeing lockdowns and constraints on people's lives, quite rightly but with great added difficulty, in Victoria.

When we introduced this bill in May, our leader, Adam Bandt, wrote to Scott Morrison, asking for cooperation to find time in parliament to pass this critical legislation, which protects workers, protects the wellbeing of our community and protects our economy. And what the government is saying today when it stands up through its leader in the Senate, Senator Cormann, and says that it is not prepared to cooperate, to provide the Senate time to debate and, hopefully, pass this legislation, is that the government has other priorities.

Well, let's look at the government's other priorities. Let's look at what the government wants to do instead of debating this bill today. The first cab off the rank is a piece of legislation that is a stitch-up between the major parties and will effectively allow them to launder political donations. It is nothing more than a money-laundering bill for the benefit of the major parties in this country. That is what the government wants to prioritise, instead of addressing a massive issue, a massive fault line in our country, which is that we have allowed so many millions of Australians to face the harsh, day-to-day realities of casual and insecure work and how that is now driving a significant health crisis in our country.

We in here are all, quite rightly, judged on our priorities by the Australian people, and I invite the Australian people to make a judgement on the priorities that are being displayed by all of us in this place today. On the one hand you have the Greens, with the support of Labor and many of the crossbench, wanting to have a debate about a bill which will provide 14 days paid COVID-19 leave to all workers if they've been diagnosed with COVID, if they are unable to attend work because their workplace has been shut down by COVID, if they need to self-isolate or quarantine in accordance with a Commonwealth, state or territory government policy relating to COVID or if they are caring for a person who has been diagnosed with COVID-19. On the other hand you have a government that wants to prioritise the laundering of political donations. I invite people to make their judgement, and I know full well where the Australian people will land on this: they will land on the side of those of us who are trying to stick up for people who are so affected by—