PM Announcements
The Prime Minister just made the following announcements:
- The measures Australians are adapting to in our daily lives will be in place for at least the next six months – we need to be prepared for that
- The rate of growth has fallen on a daily basis to single digit numbers – but it’s not enough – community transmission is being monitored closely
- Childcare and early childcare education is critical – particularly for those Australians who rely on it so they can go to work every day – if you have a job in this economy, then that is an essential job – its important that parents have access to childcare for the many months ahead and the government wants to see centres remain open
- The Australian Government is making child care support free for people who need it as of Sunday night (April 6) under a new system which will provide this relief
- They will pay 50% of the sector’s fee revenue up to the existing hourly rate cap based on a point in time before parents started withdrawing their children
- JobKeeper wage subsidy will be synchronised to support the childcare sector’s wages to reduce costs, keep people employed and centres open
- Schools will be the same to keep Australia running
- While we have to be isolated, we can remain connected and Australians are finding innovative ways to do this
Industrial Relations update from the Attorney-General for Australia:
- Series of reforms to Modern Awards and IR System undertaken in the past few weeks
- It has been done quiet and cooperative
- 10s of thousands of jobs saved from these changes
- Change the equivalent of 30 years
- Temporary reform to last the length of the pandemic
- 121 Modern Awards – very significant changes
- Restaurants, hospitality and Clerks are most significant awards affected
- Key changes:
- Individual worker performing 1 type of duty in 1 classification
- Can now be reallocated to another classification under the Award
- Allowed for working from home abilities (this was previously unlawful under the Award)
- Allowed for taking longer durations of annual leave at half the pay
- The idea is to introduce more flexibility to help secure jobs and prevent the failure of businesses
- Next steps to be undertaken:
- 103 Modern Awards will be changed to allow for:
- Two weeks of Unpaid Pandemic Leave
- Allowing for the taking of double the length of leave at half the pay
- These changes are critical to protecting the supply and logistics chain workers in Australia