Thursday, April 16, 2020
Bosses denying workers JobKeeper
Employers are shutting retrenched workers out of the federal government’s $1500 wage subsidy scheme, as legal analysis reveals businesses are not required to nominate all eligible staff. Workers say employers are refusing to rehire them so they can access the JobKeeper payments, reports The Sydney Morning Herald, including two who suspect COVID-19 was used as cover to force redundancies. Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie called for a support hotline to be set up, claiming one sacked worker had been contacted by their former boss offering the payment provided they paid a $600 cut to the employer. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry urged businesses to look into JobKeeper, but to “seek advice” before considering whether to reverse redundancies. The Australian Financial Review reports that employers ($) may be able to select which employees receive JobKeeper payments, experts say, despite the government claiming this would not be possible.
United States President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend $631 million in payments to the World Health Organisation during the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a wave of international criticism. The United Nations, European Union, and China were among those condemning the suspension, which major WHO donor Bill Gates described was “as dangerous as it sounds”. US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy Pelosi says the decision will face a challenge. There are fears the move will impact the WHO’s work in co-ordinating vaccine research, procurement of protective equipment, and provision of assistance to help middle and lower-income countries. Meanwhile, the Group of 20 major economies have agreed to suspend debt payments for the world's poorest countries until the end of the year as the world grapples with the crisis. Aid and development organisations argued for the debt to be cancelled, not suspended. There are now more than two million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, the number doubling in just a fortnight.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will push for schools to resume face-to-face learning for the second term at a national cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders today. State and territory governments are resisting the move, with Victoria's chief health officer Brett Sutton arguing schools should stick with remote learning for term two. Federal deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth says the cabinet will consider how to make schools safer, but this won't include teachers being made to wear personal protective equipment, with only 2 per cent of all cases in Australia affecting those under 18. State School Teachers Union of WA president Pat Byrne said educators were concerned about a lack of access to protective equipment.
COVID-19 has caused Australia’s biggest-ever population decline, with 300,000 tourists, temporary workers and students leaving the country so far in 2020 ($), reports The Australian. Research finds a further 300,000 people could leave the country by the end of the year, which economists warn could erode consumer demand and cause a housing slump.
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This week
Exclusive: The seven-year plot to undermine the NDIS
After years of careful manoeuvring, the Coalition government is readying to make radical changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The revised system will force new assessments and tighten eligibility.It is hard to understate the seismic nature of this shift for the NDIS – and the decision-making power it has concentrated in the hands of the federal government.
Medevac refugees: we face special punishment
A year after the medevac repeal, refugees brought here under the law are still in detention and say they are being punished by the government for speaking out.
As the royal commission into the handling of police informants releases its final report, it’s been revealed that Victoria Police’s use of gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo as an informant may have contaminated more than 1000 convictions.
Economy tests positive for recovery
Despite howls from some of the loudest voices in the media and politics to ‘let it rip’ in response to Covid-19, the latest economic figures show Australia’s health-first approach saved lives and the country from a long and painful recession.
An artist whose work incorporates fashion, visual art and biomaterials, Alice Potts’ contribution to the NGV Triennial has been profoundly shaped by her experience of Covid-19 in Britain.
How rorts, mates and marketing took over politics
Consider some of the most notable and concerning examples of ‘bad behaviour’, excess and the abuse of power and privilege of just the past couple of decades, which have seen an alarming erosion of ministerial responsibility, transparency and accountability.
PM looks rattled as he feeds the trolls
Upon mature reflection, it is increasingly looking as though Scott Morrison’s angry reaction to a ‘truly repugnant’ social media attack from a Chinese government official has only deepened the crisis in the relationship between the two nations … In lashing out, Morrison broke one of the cardinal rules of social media.
Gadfly: The Fletcher, Christian show
There has been altogether too much tedious communication from Communications Minister Paul Fletcher, the man with a permanent hangdog expression. Drawing from the playbook of Richard Alston, a Howard-era Communications minister obsessed that Aunty was not 195 per cent behind the glorious battle for Iraq, Fletcher is stamping his foot and demanding answers from the ABC board to 15 silly questions about Four Corners’ “Canberra bubble” show.
Australia faces an inevitable crisis, led by a government that couldn’t be less capable of its handling. It wasn’t impossible to plan for this moment. As its power grew, China was always going to chafe against the presence of Australia, the United States’ most loyal ally, in Asia.
Defence experts warn of a split between the government and the military after the prime minister intervened to override the chief of the Defence Force’s decision to revoke the meritorious unit citation awarded to Australian special forces who served in Afghanistan.
China–Australia ties worsen over Zhao tweet
Canberra strengthens defence ties with Japan. Australia tops list of countries affected by China’s coercive measures. Divided views on how to find a diplomatic fix.
For all its controversial subject matter, Sandra Wollner’s film is a smart, ethical investigation that doesn’t deserve to be banned.
Eryn Jean Norvill’s bravura portrayal of 26 characters in Sydney Theatre Company’s remarkable adaptation is a triumph.
Playwright and performer Kate Mulvany is working on her next play in an unusual space – under quarantine in a Brisbane hotel room.
What happens when a regional town finds itself engineered off holidaymakers’ road maps? Instead of viewing it as a death sentence, many are revelling in the chance to reinvent themselves.
AFL draft recruiters and the pandemic
For AFL recruiters, scouting future footy stars is tough at the best of times. Now coronavirus has made the usual game of speculation and conjecture that much trickier.
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