Unions and business urged Scott Morrison to make rapid antigen tests free back in October. He could have chosen to act but he did nothing. The UK and US Governments have already acted to make rapid covid tests free and accessible to their citizens, once again Scott Morrison is leaving Australia behind. Right now, a single test can cost up to $20, if you’re lucky enough to find a chemist that still has them. That’s $100 for a family of five. That might be small change to the Prime Minister, but it’s out of reach for many families. When asked whether he would make rapid antigen tests free for Australians who need them, Mr Morrison suggested it wasn’t the Government’s job to fix the problem anyway. When a journalist specifically put to Mr Morrison that “not everyone can afford Rapid Antigen Tests”, the PM glibly replied, “some people can, some people can’t”. We've seen time and time again that when the going gets tough, Scott Morrison goes missing. We can't afford this inaction right now. It's time for the Federal Government to step up and make rapid antigen tests free and accessible.

Essential workers have continued to turn up to work throughout the pandemic. Already there have been over 700 public servants and disability workers infected with COVID-19 at work with disability workers also infected. Already we have seen PSA members in Disability group homes, Juvenile Justice, NSW Prisons, Private Prisons, transport, and now we are experiencing 100s of school closures and exposures. From the start of the pandemic there has been presumptive legislation to support essential workers when they get COVID with workers compensation, without the impossible task of having to prove you got it at work. This protects the following workers: -public health employees, -disability facilities, -educational institutions, including pre-schools, schools and tertiary institutions -police and emergency services -transport services, -libraries, -courts and tribunals, -correctional centres and detention centres, -places of public entertainment or instruction (including, museums, galleries, cultural institutions and casinos), The government has introduced a Bill to repeal these laws, which will mean that if you get COVID at work, you have to prove that you got it at work. The NSW Government has said that this change may take over $600 million out of the hands of injured workers and cut 75% of these claims. These cuts passed the lower house in November with all the Government members. The Bill has been referred to the Upper House Committee where it is likely to be voted on in February.

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) review into Ambulance Victoria (AV) has found bullying, discrimination, victimisation, and sexual harassment are rife throughout the service. "We heard that some leaders at Ambulance Victoria – including senior leaders, managers, and other senior staff – are undermining organisational messaging on a commitment to workplace equality and respectful behaviour by displaying incivility or unlawful workplace behaviours and by failing to call out this behaviour when it occurs." (Page 296, VEOHRC Independent Review into Workplace Equality in Ambulance Victoria) AV staff have bravely spoken out about nepotism and discrimination, and no amount of policy and procedure can create a safe workplace when senior leaders who fostered this culture of workplace harm are in power. "We also heard that individuals who were known to have perpetrated unlawful conduct in the past at Ambulance Victoria had been promoted to positions of authority." (Page 281 VEOHRC review) To rebuild trust within AV, senior leaders responsible for fostering the “boys club” and offering promotion and protection to bullies, should be investigated and their employment terminated. Within AV’s latest People Matters Survey, only 34% of staff said they believed senior leaders demonstrate honesty and integrity. AV senior leadership has scored the lowest out of 17 Victorian public sector health organisations on integrity, honesty, inclusion and support. (Page 53, People Matters Survey) 5 of the 6 drivers of unlawful and harmful workplace conduct at AV are attributable to the AV Executive. (Page 278 VEOHRC review) A fundamental shift in culture requires an equally large shift in the senior leadership at Ambulance Victoria to lead the service out of the dark. The committed members of AV’s workforce who have endured years of inaction need to see change today.

Right now, women who are suffering miscarriages, pregnancy terminations, hysterectomies, sexual violence and more are being co-located in the same ward as families celebrating the birth of their newborns, and are surrounded by the sound of newborns crying. It’s a traumatising situation for these vulnerable women and the staff caring for them, and has led to serious adverse psychological and emotional effects on families and staff alike. Despite fierce opposition from RBWH midwives, nurses and patients, Metro North HHS management continues to ignore the needs of women. Management initially claimed that this co-location was an emergency “temporary measure” due to COVID-19. Then management suddenly announced the co-location as permanent. Despite the arrangements being entirely inconsistent with obstetric and gynaecological best practice guidelines, no effort has been made to find a suitable location for these patients and staff, despite there being alternatives available. Such callous disregard for the wellbeing of women is unacceptable anywhere, and certainly has no place in Queensland’s preeminent Women’s Hospital. We call on HHS management to find a safe and appropriate location for gynaecology patients that enables health staff to provide women-centred care, and which adheres to The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Standards for Gynaecological Care.

Paramedics have made immense sacrifices throughout the pandemic. At times, many have felt scared to go home to their families, worried they will bring home COVID-19. The amendment provided the small comfort of knowing that if the worst did happen and we did become infected with COVID-19, at least we would not have to face the stress of proving our infection occurred at work. We cannot stand by and watch while our Government turns its back on the workers that carried this state through the pandemic. We're sending a clear message that NSW will not accept the cruel and short-sighted repeal of this amendment.

It is crucial we fight against these course cuts to maintain crucial academics and prevent further cuts to our education. We’ve seen that cuts can be stopped to Italian and other courses if we fight back. These cuts not only affect flinders staff and students but the broader community. Sign this petition and share it far and wide

Without these health workers, the public health system would come to a grinding halt. It's not enough to call them heroes. These workers need an annual $500 COVID retention bonus in recognition of their drastically increased workload. It's the least the Victorian Government can do. Sign this petition. Join the campaign to recognise the hard work of Victoria's non-clinical public hospital workers. The Victorian Government needs to show it values these workers.

Australia needs to be vaccinated as soon as possible. But we’re running last in the race to get it done. We won’t reach the required levels of COVID vaccination without more vaccine supplies and a faster roll out. We can’t rely on a system where workers have to get their jab on weekends or during lunch breaks. Monash University allows full-time workers to get vaccinated on work time. But it won’t pay casuals to do the same. No worker should have to choose between getting vaccinated and paying the bills. The latest plan from the Morrison government will see 2 million jabs per week being administered from September. We need paid leave to attend vaccination and recover from routine side effects. Last year workers in our Union campaigned for and won paid pandemic leave and one day a week carer’s leave for staff caring and home-schooling. This year, together, we can win paid vaccination leave. But we need to work together. We need a strong voice to demand nation-wide paid vaccination leave. We need it for the University, and we need it for our colleagues and students. Sign the petition for paid vaccination leave. Join your union.

*update* National Cabinet is due to meet on August 27 and apparently discuss this issue however we will keep this petition up until our demands are met. Your voice matters. Please share this petition widely. Scott Morrison has said we must ”learn to live” with COVID-19 once we reach an 80% vaccination threshold of adults. This leaves 36% of the population unvaccinated, including most young people under 16 years old. The health toll on young people could be a disaster. Learning to live with the virus poses an unacceptable health risk until all ages under 16 are vaccinated. The National Plan and vaccine thresholds must be updated and include young people. We are concerned about young people returning to school unvaccinated for the following reasons; 1. Compared to previous variants, the delta variant is more virulent in young people. The Western Australian AMA former President Andrew Miller in WA Today states "The other real worry is that about 40 per cent of kids still have symptoms at four months, and 7 per cent have disabling physical or mental issues at six months, which can lead into long COVID syndrome." 2. Compared to previous variants, the delta variant has a 10-15 times higher transmissibility in young people. To date, young people are disproportionately affected. In Victoria, 45% of infections are in children and teenagers. In New South Wales, the figure is 30%. (22/8/21) Note these disproportionate infection rates are occurring in the context of remote learning in Victoria and NSW. Concerningly in the regional area of Shepparton, where school remained open for some of the current statewide lockdown, every school has become an exposure site and is now closed with multiple children, young people and their families now infected. The infection rates could rise further if students return onsite before being vaccinated. Unlike most workplaces, once students return to classrooms, social distancing will be practically impossible. Furthermore, adequate air ventilation, filtration and monitoring infrastructure, at this stage, does not exist. 3. The Doherty report was written before the recent evidence that indicates that the transmissibility of the Delta variant is much higher in young people. The Doherty model's rationale for excluding young people in their vaccine quotas rests on the assumption that "[e]xpanding the vaccine program to the 12-15 year age group has minimal impact on transmission and clinical outcomes for any achieved level of vaccine uptake". This is outdated.  More recent epidemiological modelling indicates that the necessity for heavier social distancing measures will be reduced if 5-15 year olds are included in the vaccination strategy (McBryde et al. 2021). Both the NSW and Victorian Chief Health Officers have recognised that young people are now a vector for broader community transmission. 4. As school staff we are acutely aware of the mental health challenges that students face under lockdown. However, returning students to onsite learning as a predominantly unvaccinated group and into an unsafe environment is not a solution.

Many people are surprised to discover that public transport workers, who have worked throughout this lockdown in an essential and public-facing role, are not eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. We come into contact with many members of the public throughout our day, eat and perform standby duties in packed lunchrooms with fellow workers. There is a lot of potential for the virus to spread throughout our workplace and be carried across sydney by our trains. The risk of serious transmission on the railways not only puts rail workers in danger, it threatens to shut down essential rail services which transport other essential workers across the city. We are concerned that no serious measures have been put in place to address these dangers in our work, and that vaccinating our essential workforce should not be the individual responsibility of workers, but the collective responsibility of the government and management.

Urgent vaccination of education staff is essential for their protection as well as the protection of students and their communities. It will also reduce the need in future to move to remote learning, which is so disruptive for students and parents. Most importantly, it is a key public safety measure to slow the spread of future outbreaks. Childcare, kinder and pre-school workers are, in many cases, continuing to work in very high-contact workplaces even when schools and TAFEs move to remote learning. The slow pace of the vaccine rollout, the lack of supply of vaccines and the failure to heed the call to prioritise education workers is putting staff, students and the broader community at risk.

The failure of Australia's Covid-19 response has been the greatest public policy failure in our nations history. Eighteen months into the pandemic and the nation is still in lockdown, we have the lowest vaccination rate in the OECD and millions of workers cannot get a vaccine. The Prime Minister and Health Minister have made announcement after announcement but taken very few concrete steps to making our community safer. It is safe to say Australia's Covid response has been scandalously bad. We need a Covid election. Lives count on it and Morrison is not up to the job.