Niki Savva: Are we really ‘all in this together’, Prime Minister?
Early in the COVID pandemic, Scott Morrison and his ministers defended delays in producing a British -style wage subsidy scheme to protect devastated workers by saying they were working on a uniquely Australian solution.
Except it hasn’t been fair. The notion we are all in it together disappeared long ago. Not everybody has experienced hard times, quite the opposite, so clearly a new definition is needed of what it is to be Australian. Then it used Pauline Hanson to scuttle crossbench Senator Rex Patrick’s bill to force the disclosure of payments to all companies and entities with a turnover of more than $10 million.Responses to calls for corrective action have been as mulish and as tone-deaf as passing legislation implementing only six of the recommendations of the Respect@Work report on the eve of the National Summit on Women’s Safety.
When the proverbial hit the fan over his trip, Morrison made contact with Labor leader Anthony Albanese to confirm Albanese would adhere to his long-standing practice of not getting stuck in when families were involved, then he bought himself cover by making sure a version of that undertaking was briefed to media.
Morrison and Frydenberg should use the moral authority of their offices to insist – not ask politely – companies return the money. They could do it today, or tomorrow. It’s not too late, before this scandal turns catastrophic.Just for some perspective on how much is involved, it is $1300 for every Australian household, and more than double that proposed by Albanese for everyone who got vaccinated. At least they would have spent it here.
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