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Government must include children in vaccine targets: Greens

Adam Bandt 4 Aug 2021

The Greens say the absence of children under 16 in the latest vaccine rollout plans shifts baselines and according to recent studies risks thousands of deaths.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt, pressed the Prime Minister in question time today as to why he is not including children in his vaccination target.

Leaving children out of the measured cohort effectively changes the baseline, and if that means we’re targeting closer to 65% of the population, rather than 80%, a study by the Grattan Institute suggests that would likely mean thousands of deaths.

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Greens call for Government to mandate vaccines for home care workers 

 The Greens say that older Australians are at significant risk without mandatory COVID -19 vaccines for all aged care workers, including those working in home care and disability care.
 
“It’s shocking that workers caring for a very vulnerable population in their homes, moving between many households in a day are not a priority for the vaccine rollout", Greens spokesperson on Ageing Senator Rachel Siewert said. 
 

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Income support recipients continue to be an afterthought

The Greens say that the additional $200 for people on income support who have lost 8 hours of work a week is a step in the right direction but once again it isn’t enough.

It’s very simple: to ensure people stay safe, the Government must ensure everyone can afford to stay home during lockdowns. 

Once again, a confusing, delayed and piecemeal process to access support has exacerbated the mental ill-health of people in our community. 

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New report shows devastating impacts of Morrison's two-class income support response

The Australian Greens say that ACOSS’ Report “Locked out in Lockdown: A report about people with the least trying to survive in lockdown” highlights that the Morrison Government has created a two-class income support response.  
 
“This Government has locked out people with the least. People who have lost paid work because of lockdowns are able to access the $600 per week COVID-19 Disaster Payments, while those on JobSeeker Payment are getting half as much at $315 per week”, Australian Greens spokesperson on Family and Community Services Senator Rachel Siewert said. 
 

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JobKeeper 2.0 calls catching on, Morrison reluctance putting nation at risk

As the need to reestablish a large-scale JobKeeper becomes increasingly obvious, the Greens say the same coalition that dragged the Prime Minister over the line the first time can do it again.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader, Adam Bandt:

“13 million people are under lockdown but Scott Morrison is fiddling with makeshift support packages rather than simply reintroducing a previously successful, well-understood JobKeeper scheme.

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Covid assistance package cruelly ignores people on income support

The Greens have called on the Government to include income support recipients in COVID assistance packages.
 
“This package fails to acknowledge that people on income support need additional help as well, that they work too and have lost hours and would also have lost income. 
 
“Almost half of people on the JobSeeker payment have an illness or disability, meaning they will need to isolate and require extra services like grocery or medication delivery. How can they afford that living below the poverty line?  
 

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