I move:

That Part 3 of Schedule 1 of the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Amendment Rules (No. 8) 2020, made under the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Act 2020, be disallowed [F2020L01165].

With JobKeeper payments set to drop from Monday 28 September, the Australian Greens have today released Parliamentary Budget Office-backed analysis showing it would cost less to continue JobKeeper at its current rate through to March 2021 than to bring forward tax cuts for high income earners by even one year, as is reportedly being considered in the upcoming Budget. 

The Greens have welcomed Labor’s backflip on its utterly reprehensible claim that JobKeeper payments to low-hours workers were ‘waste’ that was wrongly adding to the country’s debt.

“Labor claimed that JobKeeper payments to low-hours workers previously earning less than $1,500 were wasteful. Labor launched an utterly reprehensible attack on low-paid, insecure workers and we are pleased that they have now back-flipped,” said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt.

The government don't care about workers. They don't care about the economy. They don't care about protecting the planet for future generations. Their vision for the future is one of low wages, of job insecurity, and of profits over people. They want to use the COVID-19 crisis to enrich their corporate donors and fight culture wars, and not much else. Rather than creating the jobs of the future, they are pushing a so-called 'gas-fired recovery'—a totally backwards idea, brought to you by the government's mates in the gas industry.

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.

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

I rise on behalf of the Greens to speak to the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Jobkeeper Payments) Amendment Bill 2020. The bill extends the prescribed period of operations for the coronavirus payment framework, which allows JobKeeper to be extended until March of next year. It also enables the ATO to share some JobKeeper payment information with the Commonwealth, state and territory government agencies. The bill extends the temporary JobKeeper fair work provisions in part 6-4C of the Fair Work Act, except for those relating to annual leave, until next March.

(21:18): I rise on behalf of the Greens to support the Labor amendment. This amendment removes the new category of legacy employers. These are employers who are no longer eligible for JobKeeper, but they will still be able to use the flexibility measures, such as reducing workers' hours by up to 40 per cent and changing dates, locations and shift times.

The Greens support the motion. Paid pandemic leave should be for all workers. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the profound precariousness and inequality that exists in workplaces. No-one—not a single person—should be forced to choose between protecting their health and the health of those around them and being plunged into economic hardship, yet this is the exact situation many workers find themselves in. The government needs to support workers and guarantee and fund a safety net so all workers have access to at least 14 days of paid pandemic leave. This needs to happen right now.

The Greens have described a government bill to extend IR ‘flexibility’ and create a special tier of businesses as corporate welfare at workers’ expense. 

The government’s bill creates a new class of corporation that can cut its workers hours and pay without the workers getting JobKeeper.

The Greens will move to excise these powers from the bill, arguing that if these businesses need support, then the Government can extend JobKeeper to them as well.

“The government is using the pandemic as a cover to attack working people,” Greens Leader Adam Bandt said. 

I, and also on behalf of Senator Steele-John, seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 714, relating to JobKeeper payments.

Leave granted.

Senator FARUQI: I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that the Government is leaving young people, students and universities behind in the jobs and economic crisis due to COVID-19 and that: