What we learned: Monday, 8 August
With that, we will wrap up the blog for the evening.
Here were the biggest developments of the day, dominated by the inquiry into John Barilaro’s New York trade job.
- Barilaro has told the inquiry the trade role wasn’t “jobs for the boys” and he was surprised to be selected, before rejecting a “disgusting slur” behind his knowledge prior to the job vacancy, refuting the suggestion he must be “one of the luckiest men in NSW politics”. “If you’ve lived the hell that I’ve lived in the last six weeks, you’d be the unluckiest,” he replied. Barilaro also revealed his third referee for the NYC job was the former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell, now Australia’s high commissioner to India.
- The federal government has asked the Fair Work Commission to raise aged care workers’ wages in part because it would “contribute to narrowing the gender pay gap”, arguing that there has been a “gender-based” undervaluation of the work done by aged care staff.
- A homicide investigation is underway after two bodies were found in a southern Brisbane suburb this morning.
- There were 14 deaths from Covid recorded across the nation today as new data revealed Covid-19 has become the third leading cause of death in Australia this year. It comes as Queensland’s Covid wave is confirmed to have peaked on 25 July.
- And several Adelaide Crows players are reportedly considering filing a class action over the AFL club’s 2018 pre-season camp, further claims about which have emerged in the past week following the publication of Eddie Betts’s biography.
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Body found in paddock in north-west Victoria
Police are responding to an incident in north-west Victoria where a farmer has allegedly found a body in a paddock.
Victoria Police say the farmer located the body in a paddock at a small town near Wycheproof shortly before 4pm today.
The body is yet to be formally identified. Police are on scene and investigations are ongoing.
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Coalition says aged care workers should be ‘renumerated fairly’
The shadow health minister, Anne Ruston, says the Coalition wants to see aged care workers “remunerated fairly”, in response to the Labor government’s submission to the Fair Work Commission’s work value case.
Unions have called for a 25% pay rise, while the government resisted putting a concrete number on their recommendation of a pay rise. Ruston said the Coalition “respects the independence of the Fair Work Commission and we will support their decision.”
“Our hardworking aged care workforce should be remunerated fairly and adequately for the support they provide to the Australian community,” she said.
We must also ensure a sustainable and affordable aged care sector for our older Australians and the future generations who will rely on it.
In a separate statement, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation said it welcomed the government’s submission.
The nature of the work required across the aged care sector has developed considerably over the years and become significantly more complex, requiring greater skill and responsibility under increasingly difficult conditions, with a diminishing workforce.
That’s why we believe the government’s support for a wage increase for nurses and workers will create the opportunity for well-paid jobs and provide a platform for nurses and care workers to be recruited and retained in the under-resourced aged care sector.
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