2020-03-24
The Greens have said that today’s Depression-era job queues follow the Morrison Government’s failure to link its billions in stimulus payments to wage and job subsidies, urging the Government to reconsider its cancelling of Parliament so that the mess can be fixed up.
“The Greens pushed for a jobs and wages guarantee, because we know that every job we save now is a job we don’t need to recreate after this crisis is over,” said Greens Leader Adam Bandt.
“Depression-era challenges need a depression-era response, but instead we got a trickle-down stimulus with no jobs and wages guarantees.
“The government listened to the Greens when we said students needed support, the not-for-profit sector needed to be included in the stimulus package and that Newstart was too low. They should listen to us again and immediately implement jobs and wages guarantees, like we’re seeing in the UK.
“As casual work in hospitality and retail dries up, the Greens were pleased to get students the extra support they need, but carers and people on the Disability Support Pension are being left behind.
“Parliament may need to sit again in the next few weeks to fix the government’s stimulus package.
“Cancelling Parliament isn’t just a danger to democracy, it will get in the way of economic recovery. We need more democracy, not less, during this crisis. Parliament should sit again, if safe to do so, so that we can fix the holes in the government’s stimulus package.
“Australians also deserve a clear explanation of how the government will massively increase the number of intensive care beds. The availability of ICU beds and respirators will literally be the difference between life and death for many people, but we’re on track to run out of beds soon.”