The Greens have called on National Cabinet, who have so far agreed in principle to the Prime Minister’s latest vaccination plan, to demand it include children.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt, says growing evidence shows that vaccinating younger people is vital to reducing COVID spread and deaths.

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.

The Australian Greens have joined calls for the Prime Minister to release Doherty Institute modelling used to justify national vaccine targets that have been agreed in-principle by the National Cabinet.

 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. 
 

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. 

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. 
 

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.

The Australian Greens said today the Morrison Government has abandoned people on income support payments during the middle of the pandemic. 
 
“This harsh and cruel treatment condemning people to deeper poverty is unconscionable” said Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on Family and Community Services.

The Greens are calling on the Federal Government to commit to funding a pay increase for aged care workers saying the Government should have done this in the recent budget.