I rise to speak to the Australian Greens Fair Work Amendment (COVID-19) Bill 2020 that I introduced in the Senate during the last sitting. This bill will protect all workers during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are living through unprecedented times—I don't know how many people have said that or how many times, but it is true: COVID-19 is drastically changing our way of life. This is a global health crisis with no-one left untouched by its impacts. This is a difficult time for all of us, there's no doubt. This is a strange time. This is not a normal time.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP has today said the 2019-20 annual wage review increase was too low and that a change to the Fair Work Act was now needed to tackle inequality and recover from recession.

“A stubbornly low minimum wage leaves young people behind and seriously hurts attempts to get the economy moving again. The only winner today is big business,” said Mr Bandt.

“The wrong people are being asked to meet the costs of recovery.

Responding to today’s devastating job figures that see youth unemployment at a 23 year high, Greens Leader, Adam Bandt MP, called on the government to implement a youth Jobs Guarantee and an investment plan, saying young people are giving up and losing hope.

“Young people are dropping out, giving up and losing hope,” said Mr Bandt.

“We are on the verge of creating a lost generation and Scott Morrison has no plan to fix it.

The Greens have today slammed Centre Alliance for reportedly helping the Liberal Party abandon an election promise and delay an increase to working people’s super - saying there’s still time to show spine on super.

“Centre Alliance’s abandonment of working people shows they’re shaping up to be absorbed into the Liberal Party,” Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP said.

“For years, big corporations have been pushing to suppress wages and super increases, and the pandemic just gives them ammunition to fight workers entitlements for the next decade.

Following reports that the government cynically intends to link extended JobKeeper support in some businesses to a removal of the industrial rights of workers in other businesses no longer receiving JobKeeper, the Greens have vowed to oppose the government's attempt at legislative blackmail, saying they will move to strip the proposed removal from any bill that comes before Parliament.

“The conservatives are cynically using this pandemic to strip rights from workers,” said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt says today's announcement that the government will expand JobKeeper suggests lessons have not been learned from the first round of JobKeeper, meaning millions in need will continue to miss out.

“The Government has shown today how easy it is to expand eligibility,” Greens Leader, Adam Bandt, said today.

“While we welcome an expansion, this was surely an opportunity to fill the gaps that see millions of workers unfairly missing out on JobKeeper.

The Australian Greens have released analysis of ABS data which shows 83,100 workers on JobKeeper in Victoria are casuals in industries now subject to some form of shut down.

“Up to 83,100 workers in Victoria’s hardest hit industries will be forced into unemployment because the government continues to deny them access to JobKeeper,” Greens Leader and Member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt said.

Greens Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young has called for South Australia to be included in the Federal Government’s Paid Pandemic Leave scheme, with ABS data revealing 186,000 South Australian workers have no leave entitlements.
Senator Hanson-Young has written to SA Premier Steven Marshall asking him to make the request to the PM to add the tool of paid pandemic leave to SA’s arsenal in the fight against Covid19.

The Morrison government can use the extensive coronavirus crisis powers already granted to it by Parliament to immediately grant paid COVID-19 sick leave to workers across Australia, according to advice obtained by the Australian Greens, without Parliament having to sit. The Treasurer could grant the leave by issuing regulations, similarly to the way the JobKeeper scheme was established. The advice was provided by the Parliamentary Library.

Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP, said with the situation in Victoria changing by the hour, people deserved clarity from the Government and Labor about their position on Paid Pandemic Leave and JobKeeper 2.0.

On today's Insiders, it was revealed that the PM is considering implementing Paid Pandemic Leave, a vital work safety net called for by the union movement and Greens since March. The Greens have a bill for 14 days paid COVID leave currently before the Senate.