The Greens have described a government bill to extend IR ‘flexibility’ and create a special tier of businesses as corporate welfare at workers’ expense. 

The government’s bill creates a new class of corporation that can cut its workers hours and pay without the workers getting JobKeeper.

The Greens will move to excise these powers from the bill, arguing that if these businesses need support, then the Government can extend JobKeeper to them as well.

“The government is using the pandemic as a cover to attack working people,” Greens Leader Adam Bandt said. 

With the Liberals needing Senate support for their plans to slash JobKeeper payments to low-income earners, the Australian Greens have described Labor’s approach to JobKeeper cuts as two-faced, urging Labor to stop playing double games and instead fully abandon the opposition's plans to support the Liberals' cuts.

Following reports that the government cynically intends to link extended JobKeeper support in some businesses to a removal of the industrial rights of workers in other businesses no longer receiving JobKeeper, the Greens have vowed to oppose the government's attempt at legislative blackmail, saying they will move to strip the proposed removal from any bill that comes before Parliament.

“The conservatives are cynically using this pandemic to strip rights from workers,” said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt says today's announcement that the government will expand JobKeeper suggests lessons have not been learned from the first round of JobKeeper, meaning millions in need will continue to miss out.

“The Government has shown today how easy it is to expand eligibility,” Greens Leader, Adam Bandt, said today.

“While we welcome an expansion, this was surely an opportunity to fill the gaps that see millions of workers unfairly missing out on JobKeeper.

The Australian Greens have released analysis of ABS data which shows 83,100 workers on JobKeeper in Victoria are casuals in industries now subject to some form of shut down.

“Up to 83,100 workers in Victoria’s hardest hit industries will be forced into unemployment because the government continues to deny them access to JobKeeper,” Greens Leader and Member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt said.

Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt MP, said with the situation in Victoria changing by the hour, people deserved clarity from the Government and Labor about their position on Paid Pandemic Leave and JobKeeper 2.0.

On today's Insiders, it was revealed that the PM is considering implementing Paid Pandemic Leave, a vital work safety net called for by the union movement and Greens since March. The Greens have a bill for 14 days paid COVID leave currently before the Senate.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt and spokesperson on Family and Community Services Senator Rachel Siewert have responded to today's announcement that the government has agreed to Labor’s proposal to cut JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments, even as unemployment soars and the Covid outbreak continues in Victoria and NSW. 

This is being billed as an extension, but the reality for millions of Australians, many of whom are still under lockdown, is that this is a cut in vital income support.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt has responded to reports the government is considering Labor’s proposal to cut JobKeeper payments for people previously earning less than $1,500 a fortnight, slamming the two parties for working together to slash the pay of low-paid workers bringing home less than the weekly minimum wage.

“Labor is sticking the knife into low-paid workers and the Liberals are twisting it,” said Mr Bandt.

“This is the sell-out of the century.

By excluding casuals engaged for less than 12 months, Scott Morrison’s flat wage subsidy will fail to keep Australians employed, and still represents an inferior model to an 80% of wages model proposed by the Greens, Greens Leader Adam Bandt said today.

Mr Bandt said that the 12 month restriction showed little understanding of the nature of work in already hard-hit fields like hospitality, retail and tourism, and meant the policy would leave behind almost a million casual workers.