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