Following the revelation that the WA security guard who tested positive for COVID-19 is also moonlighting as an Uber driver, Sustainable Australia Party is calling on the WA government to learn the lessons from Victoria and South Australia’s quarantine failures and abandon its use of a casualised, underpaid and exploitable workforce.
Sustainable Australia Party South West region candidate Daniel Minson is promoting a governance model focussed on health and wellbeing outcomes for individuals and communities rather than simply cutting costs and maximising profits.
Mr Minson said “The health risks posed by COVID-19 have been ignored by Mark McGowan’s State Government in favour of maintaining a casualised, underpaid and exploitable workforce. A bullet has hopefully been dodged, but we should have never been exposed to the risk. This is a clear failure of Government when clear lessons in other states were apparent.”
Mr Minson added “Working 12 hours a day[1], back-to-back, in a role of State importance in protecting the health of the community should be enough to provide a stable income for any worker, regardless of whether they are Australian or a temporary migrant. The increased casualisation and lower real wages are driving workers into situations where they are exploitable and overworked. In a time of crisis this has led to major health risks.”
“Recommendations from the inquiry into Victoria’s hotel quarantine system clearly state that hotel quarantine staff should be restricted to one workplace[2]. Subsequently, annual salaries were set at $85,000 per annum.[3] This has been highlighted as best practice by health officials, so why is Mark McGowan not following the health advice?”
Mr Minson continues “This coming week, during lockdown, thousands of West Aussie casuals will not be working and with no sick or annual leave will not be getting paid. If the lockdown were to be extended, the most vulnerable and exploitable of our workforce are pressed into hard decisions where health comes second to money. With JobKeeper expiring next month, this will only get worse in the year ahead.”
“Mark McGowan’s Labor Government has traded off community safety for lower costs. Sustainable Australia Party is contesting the WA State Election to put the health and wellbeing of people first. We need to follow expert health advice to ensure a safe environment in which to maintain our health, and therefore continue our economic prosperity.”
SUSTAINABLE AUSTRALIA PARTY
Sustainable Australia Party is an independent community movement from the political centre, campaigning to protect our environment, stop overdevelopment, stop corruption and much more. We believe in a science and evidence-based approach to policy that follows public health advice - not an extreme left or right ideology. More: https://www.sustainableaustralia.org.au/wa
CONTACT:
Daniel Minson – Sustainable Australia Party WA Candidate, South West Region: 0432 904 111
[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-31/what-are-the-covid-quarantine-lockdown-rules-for-perth-wa/13107288
[2] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-20/single-workplace-hotel-quarantine-staff-covid-19-sa-in-lockdown/12901828
[3] https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-how-much-you-get-paid-to-work-in-hotel-quarantine-225747133.html
