Anthony Albanese will propose that Canberra and the states extend the pandemic leave payment during a snap national cabinet briefing that has been expedited to Saturday.
The government has spent the past week signalling the existing $750 payment would not be extended over the winter for budgetary reasons, but that decision has been reversed after mounting pressure from backbenchers, premiers, and health experts.
Australia’s chief medical officer will provide an emergency briefing to national cabinet on Saturday morning as the Albanese government grapples with the surging Covid crisis.
The prime minister tweeted late Friday night that he had received a briefing from the chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, who would report to state and territory leaders on Saturday morning.
State and territory leaders have called on the Albanese government to urgently reinstate pandemic leave payments for workers forced into Covid isolation, with warnings of record numbers of workers taking sick leave in the face of a winter virus wave.
Albanese, who was at the Pacific Islands Forum as the domestic controversy intensified, initially agreed to discuss the issue with premiers and territory leaders on Monday. But after the prime minister’s return to Australia on Friday, that timetable was accelerated.
The resolution of pandemic leave has emerged as the prime minister’s first major domestic test since taking office.
Received afternoon briefing from Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly on BA4/5 COVID wave. He will report to National Cabinet tomorrow morning and we will discuss proposals to ensure the vulnerable are protected over coming weeks.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 15, 2022
Over the course of Friday, premiers stepped up their calls for the leave payments to continue. “I think it is unfair that, when the state imposes public health orders on people to restrict their liberty and their capacity to work for the government, to not provide financial support,” the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, said.
Australia recorded more than 43,000 Covid cases and 66 deaths on Friday.
Before he left Fiji, Albanese backed in the rationale for ending the payment in line with Scott Morrison’s timetable, but he also left the door open for a change of position, noting “we’ll give consideration to all of these issues” when he met the premiers.
Following Friday’s medical briefing, Albanese said “the Covid pandemic is not over”.
“The Government will continue to address issues based upon the health advice that we have received. We want to keep the economy open and the key to that is limiting the health impact on Australians,” he said.
A growing number of state and territory leaders, as well as members of the federal parliament, have urged Albanese to rethink the decision. Governments in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania have made public calls for the pandemic payment to return, as have the federal Coalition, Greens and members of the crossbench.
“With increasing cases and continued pressure on health systems across the country, it’s as important as ever that people isolate when they have Covid – consideration should be given to continuing any measures which support that,” said a Victorian government spokesperson on Friday.
Queensland’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, who made the public call for a snap national cabinet meeting, claimed there had been “mixed messages” on the pandemic recently. A spokesman said she was confident the meeting would discuss support measures.
Perrottet told a press conference that he appreciated the “budget positions” of federal and state governments, but said policy settings may need adjusting.
“There’s not one time in the pandemic that we have set and left policies in place. We’ve always tailored the circumstances,” he said.
The ACT chief minister Andrew Barr wanted payments extended until August, as well as a new rapid test program.
“A short extension of the Covid-19 pandemic leave disaster payment, until the end of winter, should be considered to help workers who have no sick leave entitlements,” he told Guardian Australia.
“A modified, and less costly, version of the concessional RAT scheme should be considered to ensure vulnerable community members can still access free RATs when they need them.”
A South Australian government spokesperson also backed a “short extension” of the pandemic leave payment. Tasmania’s premier, Jeremy Rockliff, called for the same.
“With Covid cases and hospitalisations continuing to increase across the country due to the more transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, it is vital that both state and federal governments continue to offer financial support for testing and isolation,” he said.
“The commonwealth needs to do more, in partnership with the states and territories, as has been the case since the pandemic started.”
The Australian Council of Trade Unions assistant secretary, Liam O’Brien, noted Thursday’s labour force figures to point out that the highest ever numbers on record for workforce sickness were in May and June – and feared that number could rise this month. He called the government’s decision “short-sighted”.
“It’s not just casual workers who need paid pandemic leave, it’s the hundreds of thousands of workers who are out of sick leave too,” he said.
The acting Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, called on the Labor government to continue the payment and reverse the decision the Coalition had made in office.
Ley defended the Coalition’s decision at the time, saying it was made “over a year ago, before Omicron even existed”.
Independent federal MP Sophie Scamps, an emergency department doctor and GP, called for the pandemic payment to be extended, and also suggested face mask mandates could help stem the tide of new cases.
“The pandemic support payment period should be extended so that people aren’t turning up to work sick and spreading the virus to fellow staff. We don’t want to see a repeat of the initial Omicron phase where so many businesses had to close due to staff shortages,” she told Guardian Australia.
Another independent, Monique Ryan – a paediatric neurologist – tweeted “Free RATs and extension of pandemic leave pay are vital to protect our most vulnerable.”
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, yesterday said the government had “no money” to extend the pandemic leave payments. Greens senator Nick McKim responded: “Every time Labor says it can’t afford to do something please remember that the stage-three tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefit high-income earners, will cost over $200 billion in the first eight years.”
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, said his party would support moves in parliament to extend the payment.
Liberal shadow health minister Anne Ruston seized on an August 2020 tweet from Albanese, which said that “No one should have to make that choice” between going to work sick or paying bills.
@AlboMP said he would take responsibility and he would leave no-one behind. He is happy to say one thing to get himself elected, and then change his mind once in office. Mr Albanese, can you explain this? https://t.co/YHiDRHb8R3
— Anne Ruston (@Anne_Ruston) July 15, 2022
“[Albanese] said he would take responsibility and he would leave no-one behind. He is happy to say one thing to get himself elected, and then change his mind once in office. Mr Albanese, can you explain this?” she said.
