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senate vote 2020-09-02#1
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2023-02-03 16:00:06
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Title
Business — Consideration of Legislation- Business - Consideration of Legislation - Fair Work Amendment (COVID-19) Bill 2020
Description
<p class="speaker">Mehreen Faruqi</p><p>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.</p>-
- The majority voted against a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2020-09-02.4.2) introduced by NSW Senator [Mehreen Faruqi](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/nsw/mehreen_faruqi) (Greens), which means it failed. The motion was to suspend the usual procedural rules - known as [standing orders](https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/parliament-at-work/standing-orders/) - so that another vote could take place. Since it failed, that second vote won't happen.
- ### Motion text
- > *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](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=s1259).*
<p>Leave not granted.</p><p>Pursuant to contingent notice of motion standing in the name of Senator Waters, I move:</p><p class="italic">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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p> <p class="speaker">Mathias Cormann</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p> <p class="speaker">Jacqui Lambie</p><p>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!</p><p>An honourable senator: The money-laundering bill!</p><p>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?</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p> <p class="speaker">Katy Gallagher</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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. <i>(Time expired)</i></p> <p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>-
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