Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move a motion relating to the consideration of the Fair Work Amendment (COVID-19) Bill 2010, as circulated in the chamber.

Leave not granted.

Pursuant to contingent notice of motion standing in the name of Senator Waters, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent Senator Faruqi moving a motion to provide for the consideration of a matter, namely a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to the consideration of the Fair Work Amendment (COVID-19) Bill 2020.

All that the Greens are seeking here is for the paid pandemic leave bill to have an hour and a half of debate this morning. This is an hour and a half of our time which can, hopefully, provide livelihoods to workers who are really suffering, and it can help us save lives. Just yesterday, we passed a bill to extend the JobKeeper package, but even that extension was given with workers getting less money to survive during this pandemic. So many people are still left out of the JobKeeper package—casual workers, university workers, childcare workers and temporary visa holders.

We need to make sure that every single person and worker in Australia at this point in time has at least 14 days of paid pandemic leave so they are not forced to choose between their health, the health of their families, the health of their community and their livelihoods. We don't have to wait for a disaster to happen; we can do that right now. We can have better public health in our country and we can better support our workers as well. We know that the Premier of South Australia has asked the Prime Minister to make this happen. We know that the Premier of New South Wales has asked the Prime Minister to make this happen. We know that we are on a cliff, and it is our responsibility to make sure that no-one falls off that cliff.

We know that the virus is going to be here for a while. We're not yet sure when a vaccine will be developed. There is uncertainty around what's going to happen now, but it is in our power to provide at least some certainty to workers that we will care for them and look after them. That's why this bill that I am requesting the Senate agree to debate and pass through this house will provide 14 days of paid COVID-19 leave to all workers, even those that have been left out of the JobKeeper package. It will make sure that permanent part-time, casual and gig economy workers will have that leave to look after themselves, look after the community, put food on the table and have a roof over their heads. It is absolutely urgent that we do this now, because people are suffering right at this point in time. We can't go away this week and come back after a month and then start considering this.

What this bill will do—and that's why it is so important that we debate it now—is actually provide an employee with 14 days leave who is unable to attend work because the employees' workplace has been shut down; it will provide 14 days leave to an employee who is subject to self-isolation or quarantine measures in accordance with Commonwealth guidelines; and it will provide an employee with leave if the employee is caring for another person who's been diagnosed with COVID-19.

This bill is a vital piece of legislation that we actually need to debate today. I'm hoping that senators here will support the bill, because it will protect workers and it will protect our community. There are 3.3 million workers around Australia at this point in time who cannot access paid sick leave. At the end of the day, this bill is about fairness. This bill is about making sure that every single worker—whether they are casual, part time or on a temporary visa and no matter where they work—is able to access 14 days of pandemic leave. All we are requesting is an hour and a half of the Senate's time—an hour and a half to save livelihoods and save lives.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think all senators know the framework for the program for the week. There's a time to deal with private senators' business—that is, Monday morning. If Senator Faruqi wanted to pursue this with urgency, she would have known about this on Monday and she could have made appropriate arrangements at that time. She waited until Wednesday, which says to me it wasn't quite as urgent as she's now trying to suggest. This is an attempt to disrupt the orderly operation of the Senate.

At the best of times, there is not actually that much government business time. This is an attempt to interfere with the time for government business. There is business of the Senate to be progressed, and indeed we've got an important set of bills on our agenda this morning. We will not be supporting this suspension. There are ways and means available to Senator Faruqi and other senators in the chamber to progress the matters that she has raised substantively, and we would strongly encourage her and others who support the substantive proposal that she's put forward to pursue those other opportunities in the appropriate fashion.

Australia is going through a pretty difficult period, and this is not the time to play procedural games. This is a time to get the job done that the Australian people have elected us to do, and part of getting the job done is to progress the items of government business at the time that the Senate, by consensus, has scheduled for government business to be dealt with.

Let's be very clear: Senator Faruqi is not bringing this on now because there is some sort of urgency to deal with it now. If it was a matter of urgency she would've dealt with it on Monday. Senator Faruqi is bringing this up now to disrupt the agenda of the government during government business time this morning. That is not something that we can support or facilitate, and we won't. I will not take my full five minutes so that the Senate can get back to its business, as scheduled on the agenda, at the earliest opportunity.

Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have to say, since the country's going through such a difficult time at the moment and it's so difficult, we're sitting here on a Wednesday morning before we finish for, I think, nearly eight weeks and we're talking about electoral legislation. That's the first item on the agenda this morning, Australians!

An honourable senator: The money-laundering bill!

The money-laundering bill—that's the one. How about that? Because we are going through such an economic crisis, these guys here, the major parties, have made a dirty, filthy little deal to talk about electoral matters. That's where we're at this morning. Don't worry about these people. Don't worry that we have no vaccine. Nobody's got any vision from your side that this could be going on for the next few years—that these people may need pandemic leave—and what are you going to do? Just leave them without money, are you? How's that going to keep the economy going around?

You want to talk about what's important to this country—and, by the way, this was never on the agenda—and you're in here chucking this right at the crossbench's face this morning. Because this is so important, it was chucked on late last night to tell us that we're going to talk about electoral matters here this morning. We're going to talk all about cash and about winning seats instead of the health of Australians in this country. That's where we're at this morning. That's apparently what's more important than anything else. It's not about you guys, your house loans or if you get pandemic leave, while these guys are saying, 'Open all the borders,' and waiting for a catastrophe to happen and then wondering how we're going to keep Australians going for two weeks; wondering how, if they're on pandemic leave or they're on leave with nothing to cover that, they're going to feed their kids; and wondering how they're going to pay their house payments. That's what we're doing this morning, because apparently that's the most important thing. Quite frankly, you should be ashamed of yourselves this morning. This is just rubbish.

My office has looked at this this morning, and already we're finding holes in it. You're not talking about the loans, how they're not going to be transparent and how this is not going to be how you're going to get a loan like the Labor Party did last time with $30 million—that apparently you can pay these loans back, but they're not a political donation even though you're using that $30 million to win political seats. My God, that's where we're at. You have had an inquiry. You've been sitting there saying, 'This is great,' and you've got a girl from Tasmania who hasn't got a university degree, and I'm already, in 10 minutes this morning, finding holes in this bill. That's where we're at. So bring on the debate.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor will be supporting the suspension today to bring on a universal paid pandemic leave bill—the Fair Work Amendment (COVID-19) Bill 2020—for debate. We shouldn't be in this position where we're having to move a suspension for a private senator's bill. This should have been a scheme that was brought in by the government. It should have been brought in months ago. I think the point that the Greens senators are making here is that this is the last couple of days we sit before the budget. There's another month to go, and we haven't been able to get the government to bring in a paid pandemic leave scheme. I think it's one of the real weaknesses in our response to COVID-19. I think the more and more we learn about this virus, the more and more we understand the need for people, if they are feeling unwell, to be able to stay at home and isolate, pending tests.

What we also know is that, for many people, staying at home is not a choice that they are able to make, because they have to make a choice between income, putting food on the table, looking after their kids and paying their bills or not doing those things. If there's no sick leave or other entitlements for them—and let's remember, there are 3.7 million workers in this country that don't have access to leave entitlements—that's the fundamental issue that needs to be addressed through a paid pandemic leave scheme that operates across the country.

People who represent workers—the unions—were calling for this back at the beginning of the pandemic, because they realised that, with the nature of insecure work in this country, we had millions of workers without access to leave entitlements who, when it came to the crunch, would be forced to go to work so that they would be able to earn an income, and they would not be in a position to make that choice of working from home or keeping away if they were unwell. This was a real gap in the response. I think we've seen it play out. We've certainly seen it play out in aged care.

One of the biggest issues of the outbreak in Victoria has been the casualised workforce working across multiple sites when they are unwell, and the COVID-19 infection spread across sites because they didn't have access to leave entitlements which would have allowed them to stay at home. The Commonwealth has acted in relation to aged-care workers in Victoria. The state government has responded, with a payment arrangement to be put in place. But it's not universal, it doesn't happen across the country and it's not in place early enough. It has, again, been a reactionary measure from this government to deal with a problem once the problem arises, and for the workers that have become unwell, for the outbreaks that have spread, that's been too late.

So we do support this suspension. We think 1½ hours to debate is reasonable. We actually think it should be a government bill. They're in charge. They're the ones that are getting all the information. They should be taking the lead on this, and they should be providing nationally consistent arrangements, because, as we understand it, without a vaccine the situation for many casualised workers, for those who don't have permanent employment—contractors, freelancers, sole traders, gig workers and all those sorts of people—is that they are going to face this pressure until a vaccine is here, and that could be some time. So I think the suspension by the Greens should be supported. It is sensible. We need to take action on paid pandemic leave.

The bill that the Greens have moved isn't exactly as Labor would have done it. There are some areas that we would do differently. But we welcome the debate on the issue itself, because what it's highlighting is a significant gap in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic—a gap that is easily addressed and would allow those workers who aren't in the fortunate position that people like us are in to make those choices in the interests of the community, as opposed to having to make choices for themselves and their families. It becomes a choice between earning an income or not earning an income. And not earning an income has significant consequences for families. There's a sensible way to deal with it. The unions have been arguing for it for months. Any casual worker will tell you that this is a real problem for them. If we're going to be serious about stopping the spread, managing the outbreaks and opening up the economy then this has to be an ingredient to support that recovery. (Time expired)

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Greens are doing the job that the government should have done. Instead of agreeing with us and realising they are leaving people behind, they are choosing to label this an excuse to disrupt the Senate. No, it's not. It's the Greens, with the opposition and the crossbenchers, trying to do what the government have failed to do—that is, to protect all workers in this country and to stop the spread of COVID, because sick workers are having to go to work because they have no income.

But the government would rather spend their time rushing through a bill to trash our environment laws, because that is what they are trying to do. They would rather rush through a bill to trash our education system, to trash our universities and to make life so much harder for young people in this country. They don't want to refer either of those bills to a committee—oh, no. Why would you do that? No, they want to rush those through. But when it comes to actually protecting our community, to making sure that no-one is left behind, the Greens get accused of disrupting the Senate. No, we're not. We're not disrupting the Senate. We're doing the government's job for them to ensure that people are not left behind and to ensure that we don't get situations where sick workers have to go to work because, for example, they may have used up all their sick leave. But they should not have to, in fact, use up all their sick leave in order to take time off work. They should know that they have the security of pandemic leave, because that is what we're dealing with in this country: we're dealing with a pandemic. We need leave to make sure all workers are protected, particularly those casual workers whom the government have so clearly left behind. They don't get access to JobKeeper. Those on temporary visas don't get access to JobKeeper. The government are quite happy to leave those people behind, while saying, 'We're all in this together.' No, we're not. Those who don't get access to leave aren't all in this together; they are being left behind by the government.

This bill would provide 14 days of paid COVID-19 leave to all workers, including part-time, casual and gig economy workers. They would get this if they were diagnosed with COVID-19, if they were unable to attend work because their workplace had been shut down due to COVID-19, if they needed to self-isolate or quarantine in accordance with a Commonwealth, state or territory government policy relating to COVID-19, if they were caring for another person who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 or if they needed to self-isolate or quarantine in accordance with a direction from a state or Commonwealth government. Paid pandemic leave would be added to the National Employment Standards, and the Fair Work Commission would have the power to make COVID-19 leave orders to extend 14 days paid leave to workers or classes of workers who may not be employees, such as food delivery drivers. That makes absolute sense. The government should be doing this.

The Greens shouldn't have to be seeking to move to suspend standing orders in order to bring this debate on. We are being very reasonable. We're asking for an hour and a half to deal with this. And, given the need for this, given the urgency of this—because all Australians know we are not out of this pandemic yet—we need to act to protect everybody. This would not only ensure that workers are looked after, it would also protect the broader community. Having sick workers go to work does not help anybody; in fact, it could help spread COVID-19.

This is a complete flaw in the government's approach to COVID-19. It's a whacking great hole in their approach. How can you think of moving to recovery, moving out of this and lifting restrictions by Christmas as the Prime Minister is now saying? Well, unless we're looking after all our workers, we're not going to get there. This is part of our response to the pandemic; it's about ensuring that people are not left behind. I tell you what, this government is leaving people behind. This is essential legislation that the government should have moved. We're doing their job for them.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Greens motion and note the contribution from the previous speakers. I don't think there's any greater issue that this country faces at the moment than confronting the coronavirus and the response to the pandemic that we now find ourselves in. It's almost as if we're living in a parallel universe: on the one hand, we're in here discussing other bits of legislation which may or may not be of interest to the community, and, on the other hand, the Greens and Labor maintain that the most important issue that this country now faces is dealing with the issue of pandemic leave.

We have seen the response of the government to the aged-care crisis that's currently going on in Victorian aged-care homes and in Victorian hospitals. What was one of the triggers for that development in Victoria? One of the triggers was that employees were going from aged-care facility to aged-care facility. Why did they do that? Well, the people in this industry tend to be relatively low paid. In order to maintain an income, because of the casual nature of the employment, they have continued to work, in circumstances where obviously what they should have been doing was staying at home and recovering from this terrible virus. But instead, in order to feed their families, to pay their bills, they have been going to work.

Of all the issues that we could confront here this week and over this two-week period, I don't think there's a more important issue than the ones that the Greens have put on the table today. We—

Honourable Senator:

An honourable senator interjecting—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, this is the second time this week I've supported the Greens. I'm supporting them because they're absolutely right. The Greens are absolutely right on this issue.

Honourable senators interjecting—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no greater issue—

Government senators interjecting—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on my right!

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no greater issue that this country confronts. Anybody who has a family member in Victoria knows the risks that are going on in that state. Lots of frontline workers are out there. One example that I'm familiar with are the retail workers. They have continued to work throughout this whole period if they work in supermarkets. People have obviously continued to need to eat. These workers have been frontline workers. What happens when their sick leave runs out? They have to make a choice for their families: 'Do I go do work and risk infecting other people if I've got the virus, or do I stay home and have no money to feed myself?' It's a pretty simple proposition, and until this government understands why this crisis—the total collapse in the aged-care industry—has occurred in Victoria under their watch I don't think we're going to get a solution to this problem.

The more we can do to assist those workers who've got to make that choice—and it's not an easy choice. We know people have been making the wrong decisions. Why have they been making the wrong decisions? They haven't got paid pandemic leave. Fourteen days is a good period, because by and large, hopefully, you're over and done with the virus. You can get a test. It's what I am going to have to do that when I go back to Adelaide on Friday to make sure I haven't caught the virus up here. Those people can have the opportunity to go and do their test, recover and then come back to work. The small price of paid pandemic leave is miniscule compared to the damage that is being done to this economy by these lockdowns. It's a small price to pay both to help the individuals themselves who have obviously run out of sick leave and to help the country get back and overcome the economic carnage that has occurred. So I support very much the debate this morning on this bill.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to 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—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator McKim. Time for the debate has expired, I believe. The question is that the motion to suspend standing orders moved by Senator Faruqi be agreed to.