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.

योगदानमा आधारित सामाजिक सुरक्षा ऐन, नियमावली र कार्यविधि तथा श्रम ऐन र नियमावलीमा रहेका थुप्रै अमिल्दा व्यवस्थाहरु सरकारी, निजी संगठीत तथा असंगठीत तमाम श्रमिकका लागि प्रतिकूल छन् । श्रमिकले आफ्नो सेवाकालभरीमा योगदान गरेको रकमको पूर्ण प्रतिफल पाउंन नसक्ने र योगदान रकमको सुरक्षाको अभाव देखिन्छ । त्यसैले नेपालका सरकारी, निजी, संगठीत तथा असंगठीत सम्पूर्ण श्रमिकहरुको सर्वाङ्गीण हित रक्षाको लागि हामीले न्यायको आवाज उठाएका हांै । नेपालको बैक, बीमा तथा वित्तीय क्षेत्रको नेतृत्वकर्ता एकमात्र व्यवसायिक कर्मचारी युनियन भएको नाताले समग्र बैंक, बीमा तथा वित्तीय संस्थाहरुमा कार्यरत सम्पूर्ण कर्मचारीहरुको खाईपाई आएको सेवासुविधा तथा सेवाशर्तको रक्षाको लागि अपरिहार्य अभियान नै अहिलेको विरोधको कार्यक्रम हो ।

The Covid-19 situation in NSW is extremely concerning. Once again, the failure to build proper, dedicated quarantine facilities has resulted in a serious local outbreak, this time of the incredibly contagious Delta strain. Vaccination rates remain woefully low. The NSW Government has acted far too slowly and half-heartedly in relation to the current outbreak. Nobody enjoys lockdowns, but the failure to enact a serious lockdown soon enough has let this outbreak grow, and now means that the lockdown must be extended and strengthened. Allowing the virus to spread would be a health disaster, not just for NSW but for all Australia.

The latest plan from the Morrison Government predicts 2 million jabs per week from September. But too many employers are not allowing workers to take the necessary time off to get the job. Those at the greatest risk include casuals and low paid essential workers. No worker should have to choose between getting vaccinated and paying the bills. Last year workers in their unions won paid-pandemic leave and Job Keeper. This year, together, we can win paid vaccination leave. We need a strong voice to demand nationwide paid vaccination leave to give workers paid time off to get the jab and recover from any side effects.

June 30th marked 12 months since the Victorian Public Sector Mental Health EBA expired. 12 months during which the Andrews Government has failed to provide the pay and conditions Mental Health workers deserve. 12 months of a global pandemic, where these workers pushed themselves harder to ever to help Victorians. 12 months of dealing with safety issues, a staffing crisis and increasing workloads. Send a message to James Merlino, the Mental Health Minister, telling him to fix the Mental Health EBA. • Fix the staffing crisis in Mental Health, • Make our hospitals safer, • Treat essential workers fairly. We need Minister Merlino to act now to Support Mental Health workers

This has been part of a broader trend of universities outsourcing the provision of services to external companies at a lower cost, usually involving an attack on workers’ wages and conditions. With the potential collapse of the Co-op imminent, it’s possible that its ANU clinic will be taken over by another external company. This is no solution for staff or patients. Despite being a registered charity, the Co-op has had to compete with private billing clinics. It’s inability to do so is what has thrown the future of its staff and the patients who rely on its services up in the air. Unless the ANU steps in to run the service directly there’s nothing to stop this from happening again. Seeing a doctor is already more expensive in Canberra than almost anywhere else in Australia. Canberra has the lowest bulk-billing rate of any electorate in the country, with only 32% of patients having their GP appointments bulk-billed - well below the national average of 86.2%. Canberrans also pay higher out-of-pocket costs at mixed-billing clinics. Free, accessible healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. Let’s end the outsourcing of vital university services.

This is extremely important to all Australians as not only could Neale pass away at any moment but also because of the countless hours he puts into raising money, helping with research, hosting, organising and attending events as well as helping others despite raising over $50 million dollars for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and suffering with it himself which is currently in the last and worse stage of the heart breaking condition not to mention the other stuff he has done outside of his campaigning and the football career he has had, therefore this man deserves no less than to be awarded the Companion of the order of Australia immediately.

Medical experts have already warned these changes will increase out of pocket costs – this means patients could be left paying hundreds of dollars for some common procedures and up to $10,000 for rarer conditions. The Liberal Government has already cut billions in funding for Medicare and other health programs since 2014. What’s worse is that they froze the Medicare indexation rate, which undermines bulk-billing. And they’ve already bungled the vaccine roll-out, the most important public health program in a generation. Now we need to stop the Liberal Government from wrecking Medicare.

Victorian renters are overrepresented in casual work and will lose more than a week’s income that is urgently needed to pay rent. Victorian renters including older renters are already facing eviction, including self-evicting due to significant rental stress and Notices To Vacate since the COVID19 protections were lifted. Renters in significant hardship are facing rental increases in some cases by 25% in regional areas, as well as compounded COVID19 rental debt in addition to standard rental payments since the moratorium legislation was lifted on March 29th. Insecure, casual and low income workers are in significant insecurity and displacement since income support measures and the Rental Moratorium were scrapped from March 29th. Temporary Visa holders have been hit with extreme debt and forced into repayment of up to $20,000 in JobKeeper payments, as well as student and rental debts.

Independent assessments are intended to reduce spending on NDIS participants. They are part of government efforts to contain costs in the NDIS. These cuts will only increase the number of disabled people unable to access proper support and funding, and will force many disabled people into precarious positions. The cuts to the NDIS will also drive down pay and conditions for disability and mental health workers. The government says it will not introduce IAs until the second IA trial and further consultations have happened. But whatever they end up proposing, the government's plans are clear: to cut spending and exclude people from the NDIS. But we can stop them. Disabled people, disability and mental health workers, and our supporters can band together to show the widespread opposition to IAs and demand a fairer NDIS for all.

As the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of access to COVID-19 vaccines is set to further entrench global inequality and threaten millions more lives. As it currently stands more than 85 developing countries will not have widespread access to COVID-19 vaccines before 2023. Residents of wealthy and middle-income countries have received about 90 percent of the nearly 400 million vaccines delivered so far. No one is safe unless everyone is safe. India is currently recording over 300,000 COVID-19 cases per day. South Africa and India are proposing the World Trade Organisation waive certain provisions that give the owners of the intellectual property exclusive rights over the manufacture and sale of COVID vaccines. The waiver would only apply to COVID-19 medical products and only for the duration of the pandemic. This would allow these countries and others to make COVID-19 vaccines and make vaccines more available to poorer countries more quickly and at less cost. Their proposal is supported by 118 of 164 countries on WTO. Australia is currently siding with the big pharmaceutical companies in protecting their exclusive patents and huge profits even in the midst of this global emergency. Big Pharma used public funding and technology to develop these vaccines but are refusing to temporarily share the patents to speed up access for all. Just three of these companies distributed $26 billion in profits to shareholders in the last year. This scandal must end. Enough is enough support the waiver!

In the last year 290,500 Australians sought help from specialist homelessness services. These critical services support people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, including vulnerable groups such as women and children escaping domestic and family violence. If the Federal Government goes ahead with this $50m cut, critical services will be closed and jobs lost across Australia. Homelessness services were not meeting demand pre COVID-19 and are now under extreme pressure due to the impact of COVID-19 and economic recession. To rebuild out of this crisis and be able to support our most vulnerable Australians we cannot afford to lose hundreds of critical frontline homelessness workers. We call on the Morrison Government to ensure it continues and indexes its existing level of funding for these critical community services so workers are paid properly and able to continue to focus on supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Don’t close the door on homelessness services!