With regard to the American presidential horse race, Adrian Beaumont offers all the latest in the post below. Closer to hand:
• Tom McIlroy of the Financial Review ($) reports Labor is credited with a statistically insignificant lead in poll of Eden-Monaro conducted by the Australia Institute. Based on response options that listed only party names, the poll reportedly had Labor leading 51.1-48.8 based on preference flows from 2019. No primary votes are provided in the report, but I expect to have that and other detail for you later today. A question on the most importat issue drew modest responses for both coronavirus (7.3%) and bushfire recovery (8.6%), with the agenda dominated by the economy (28.9%), climate change (23.4%) and health (14.0%). UPDATE: After exclusion of the 9.0% undecided, the primary votes are Labor 39.8%, Liberal 34.3%, Nationals 7.3%, Greens 6.7% and One Nation 6.5%. The polling was conducted by uComms.
• The Lowy Institute has a poll on the strategic implications of coronavirus, which records a general expectation that the crisis will tilt the international balance to China (37% more powerful, 36% just as powerful, 27% less powerful) at the expense of the United States (6% more powerful, 41% just as powerful, 53% less powerful) and Europe (5%, 46% and 48%). Respondents were asked if Australia and various other countries had handled the crisis well and poorly, and with the qualification that the uncommitted responses seem implausibly low, Australians consider their own country’s response (43% good, 50% fairly good, 6% fairly bad, 1% very bad) to have been well superior even to that of Singapore (23%, 56%, 15% and 3%), never mind China (6%, 25%, 25% and 44%), the United Kingdom (3%, 27%, 49% and 21%), Italy (2%, 13%, 44% and 40%) or, God forbid, the United States (2%, 8%, 27% and 63%). Respondents were slightly less favourable to the concept of globalisation than they were in a similar survey a year ago, with 70% rating it mostly good for Australia (down two) and 29% mostly bad (up five). The survey was conducted online and by telephone from April 14 to 27, from a sample of 3036.
• The results of a Greens internal referendum on giving the party membership a way in electing party leaders landed in the awkward zone between clear majority support and the two-thirds super-majority required for change. Members were presented with three head-to-head questions between each combination of two out of three options: the status quo of decision by the party room; the “one member, one vote” approach of having the matter determined entirely by the membership; and a Labor-style model where members provided half the vote and the party room the other half. The two questions inclusive of the status quo produced very similar results, with 62.0% favouring one-member one vote (3721 to 2281) and 62.6% favouring the Labor model (3510 to 2101). The Labor model recorded a narrow 3014 (50.95%) to 2902 (49.05%) win over one-member one-vote, but this would only have been operative if the favoured model recorded two-thirds support in head-to-head comparison with the status quo. According to Rob Harris of the Age/Herald, the response rate was 46% out of the party’s 13,143 eligible members.
mundo @ #91 Friday, May 15th, 2020 – 11:18 am
Labor does politics. They just don’t do it well.
C@tmomma says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 11:21 am
Do you have a reference showing that the Nurse was employed through a Labour Hire firm?
I can’t find any evidence of that.
Buce: “In the current situation if an Aged Care Nurse felt ill with potential symptoms and reported to their employer and a GP – who would immediately issue a Medical Certificate and order testing- on what basis could they deny sick leave that they are legally entitled to under their Award or EBA?”
That’s an easy one. They can deny paid sick leave because the employee has already used up all the sick/personal leave they have. This is not difficult to do if you are, for instance, the sole carer of a number of young children.
Report on Victorian cases today
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-15/victoria-coronavirus-cases-rise-by-20-mcdonalds-cedar-meats/12251762
Player One says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 11:29 am
Pertussis is easily tested for.
Given it’s a notifiable disease I strongly doubt that a GP would put themselves at professional risk if they knew it was that and didn’t notify.
Assuming true, you must know the pressures and complications around this. Not going to work when ill is a tango that needs to be danced by staff, management and society. Even during times of a health crisis and the staff happens to be a nurse.
It is one of the reasons why I gave the school and the Ed dept such a hard time about systems in dealing with sick kids coming in. They have had a rule that sick kids should stay home but it had no mechanisms around it to make sure it happened – enforcement procedures, parent education about the rules…. yadda yadda. So it is not simple – not even for nurses.
This is just a crude and insensitive and ignorant attempt to shift responsibility and accountability away from companies and employers to those least able and most vulnerable to take it on.
meher baba says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 11:32 am
That’s not denying leave – if you aren’t entitled to it.
Most employers then allow use of Annual Leave.
Do you expect employers to just go outside the Award or EBA?
Bucephalus @ #102 Friday, May 15th, 2020 – 11:32 am
Prove to me that it was a RN first.
Bucephalus @ #105 Friday, May 15th, 2020 – 11:38 am
Sure it’s easy … so why was it not done?
This article may help you understand the situation better, Buce:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/10/lessons-learned-what-australia-needs-to-do-to-avoid-a-second-covid-19-wave
And don’t try and pull that ridiculous RW stunt of saying it’s an article from The Guardian.
Bucephalus @ #107 Friday, May 15th, 2020 – 11:41 am
In the midst of a global pandemic, while the government is subsidizing their employees to the tune of $1500/fortnight each, why wouldn’t you expect that?
I have plenty more first-hand proof to back up my assertions, Buce. But, for now, the ball is in your court. You are trying to cast aspersions against a favoured bete noir of the ranting Right Wing, Nurses. So prove it was a RN first.
Simon Katich says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 11:38 am
Schools dealing with students is a completely different relationship both culturally and legally than an employee-employer relationship.
Employers and employees need to act like responsible adults – work within the employment agreement, communicate and take responsibility for their actions.
Re the aged care worker. Keep in mind the recent investigations and the level of under staffing and overloading of workers at such facilities.Were there pressures to not further burden already over burdened work mates ? Many facilities are utterly dependent on temporary visa holders. what sort of implicit or explicit pressure is there to keep working if you are a temp visa holder ? Would they qualify for any Jobkeeper ?
Yes, but the point being that there needs to be a wholistic approach to some rules. It isnt enough to say ‘just dont come to work if you are sick’. There needs to be procedures and a recognition that, like OHS, all parties are responsible.
Was the Rockhampton health care worker exhibiting symptoms? Or not? On what basis has it been assumed the were symptomatic while working?
This example suggests that workers in high-risk locations/occupations should be routinely tested whether they have symptoms or not. Workers in the resources sector are routinely tested for the use of alcohol and other substances, and for very good reasons. There’s a compelling case to test heath care workers at least on a weekly basis for the virus.
Rockhampton today, NSW and the clusters in Victoria are demonstrating the need for blanket testing.
So, what’s the cost of that?
Ball Park figure of $1 per test kit. Plus processing time, peoples time, etc.
To perform the testing twice on everyone in the country could cost in the order of a few hundred Million.
Doing this could potentially eliminate the virus from this country.
It’s probably the cheapest solution to roll out to stop this thing once and for all…
I wonder where will be the first place to bite the bullet and go for this option??
C@tmomma says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 11:46 am
Take your pedantry up with Joe O’Brien of the ABC who reported that the Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said it was a Nurse.
Here, as it seems you are not bothering to read the article I linked to, Buce, let me just say that, although it refers to Aged Care facility, Newmarch House in NSW, the same would likely apply in Rockhampton. That is, it was the management of the facility, you know, the people on your team, who refused to move residents away from the facility, not simply and simplistically the staff who continued to work there whilst sick with COVID-19:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/10/lessons-learned-what-australia-needs-to-do-to-avoid-a-second-covid-19-wave
Yet, here you are today, trying to run an attack against Aged Care workers, also likely mislabelling them ‘Nurses’. You should be ashamed of your partisan hackery but we know that’s not a word you know the meaning of.
Player One says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 11:43 am
The only logical conclusion is that you didn’t present with the symptoms that would lead to a recommendation of a test.
Did you ask your GP?
I can tell you that some companies are absolute arseholes about sickleave. Not just the usual dodgy ones. I once had a senior manager pull me up querying, in a very serious manner, the amount of sickleave I had taken over a two year period. I was within the rules. I asked him if he knew I had become a father in that time, then a year later cared for my wife who had been in ICU for 2 weeks and taken another 3 months to recover, and then I caught swine flu… and previous to that I had barely had any sick leave for a decade. He hadnt but warned me anyway.
The company had been taken over by bean counters and I am glad to be out of there. But for many people (and in some industries) there is no choice.
Bucephalus @ #118 Friday, May 15th, 2020 – 11:53 am
Okay, so read the comments by Professor Ibrahim then.
Oh, and I have just sent an email to the Queensland CHO for clarification. The ABC doesn’t always get it right.
Signed,
A Pedant and a stickler for the truth. 🙂
Sorry c@t, I think bucephalus is right here and your wRONg.
Considering the incidence of covid illness among health care workers and the impact this has on the many people they have contact with, it’s very surprising that frequent testing is not routine. Maybe this should be extended to some other workplaces and occupations too – meat works and other large scale food production plants, night clubs and bars, public transport facilities, the police, prisons, boarding schools. There must be others too.
a r says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 11:45 am
What makes you think an Aged Care Facility would be eligible for Jobkeeper?
Do you even know how an employer qualifies for it?
I know how the actual Govt health department treated health professionals. Not great.
I’m sure for profit and private aged care are super generous and caring for their staff, you know how they are with their patients. Oh wait …
So I may well be anti-employer, but it isn’t garbage, that is your specialty like your idiotic claim Barnett made a conditional promise of the Ellenbrook rail and your even stupider claim there isn’t a valid business case now.
I’m sure you are a lovely wonderful person, but you don’t seem acquainted with reality.
Trump says if you dont test for it you have less Covid.
Really, we have to learn to live with Covid-19. Things will have to change. Assigning blame is not really much use. We will have to adapt whether or not a vaccine is developed and whether or not a]effective therapies are found. This is a new situation for the whole human population.
Bucephalus @ #120 Friday, May 15th, 2020 – 11:56 am
No. Why would I, since he had given me a diagnosis and told me there was nothing more I needed to do, and it would clear up of its own accord?
At the time, I didn’t know that “100 day cough” was the same as “whooping cough”.
It is very common. And while they can’t stop you taking actual sick leave they can pretty much screw you anyway they want so long as they don’t admit the obvious, that it is punishment for taking taking sick leave.
Buce: “Do you expect employers to just go outside the Award or EBA?”
Not normally, but COVID-19 is a different matter. I think that any sensible employer requiring people physically to attend a workplace would guarantee fully paid sick leave to anyone suffering symptoms as long as they immediately take a test and stay home until the test results are in. We are only talking 1-2 days here.
It’s just sensible risk management.
To be on the safe side the Commonwealth should introduce a new social security facility – Covid Leave – which would provide an infected worker with a replacement income while they are sick. This income should be the same as their usual income and should last until a diagnosed person is able to return to work. This would mean workers would not have to rely on Sick Leave and firms would not have to carry the cost of paying staff that cannot work for an illness caused by a public health emergency.
Workers and employers would have no reason to evade testing while both wider public health and economic purposes could be served.
Covid 19 disease can last for many weeks – for far longer than is usually provided for in Awards. People who become infected are required as a matter of public health policy to self-isolate. The benefits here accrue to the wider population. The costs can be borne at least in part by that wider population.
Simon Katich says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 11:57 am
You got a formal warning on your file for taking sick leave that your were entitled to and could justify?
I’d look for a new employer.
C@t
Reading an article from some doctor at a UK hospital and one thing he bought special attention to re high risk activities was the “doffing’ of PPE .
Continually Insufferable says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 12:08 pm
Income Protection insurance is available for those that wish to have it (apart from a few high risk jobs).
meher baba says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 12:07 pm
That’s called Sick Leave.
WeWantPaul says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 12:05 pm
Have you ever worked for an employer that you didn’t have a fight with?
Continually Insufferable @ #131 Friday, May 15th, 2020 – 10:08 am
Agree, I’ve said this a few times.
Bucephalus says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 12:11 pm
Continually Insufferable says:
Friday, May 15, 2020 at 12:08 pm
Income Protection insurance is available for those that wish to have it (apart from a few high risk jobs).
Insurers are declining to accept claims arising from the pandemic. So market-based insurance is not going to help here. Apart from anything, who should be paying the insurance premium of a health-care worker – the worker or their employer? Or their clients? Somehow the premium will have to be found.
The relevant model is social insurance – insurance by the application of social security principles and systems.
Really clearly, private insurance cannot deal with pandemic. It is a plain case of market failure.
The good thing about a COVID leave scheme is that this current mob would be busting their arses to keep infections low because they would hate the idea of paying someone for being sick. 🙂
Buce: “That’s called Sick Leave.”
Are you just being deliberately obtuse? The point I made is that some people use up all their paid sick leave and then feel that they have no choice but to go to work when sick or else not get paid.
There are also essential service sectors in which people sometimes come under enormous employer and peer pressure to front up to work even when ill, eg: fire-fighting, police, paramedics, emergency department workers, air traffic controllers (thankfully not such a problem at the moment), etc, etc.
During a pandemic such as the current one, employers simply have to adopt different strategies to deal with the problem of sick people who refuse to stay home. It’s just common sense.
In all this talk of sick leave some people seem to be forgetting that if you are a casual employee you probably aren’t entitled to any paid sick leave.
Bucephalus @ #125 Friday, May 15th, 2020 – 11:59 am
They can probably afford an accountant skilled enough to make them look eligible.
If you’re a small business you don’t. If you’re a big business you pay an accountant to make it look like your turnover has dropped by 30% or more due to C19. Think that about covers it. 🙂
To argue that the particularised costs of Covid illness should be borne by individuals – as Buce is saying – really misses the point about pandemics. In a pandemic the costs are spread and multiplied socially with the virus. The way to minimise the population-wide costs is to help individuals mitigate their own losses. This is a loss-minimising strategy. It conflicts with the ideology of the market. But it is plain as day the smart thing to do even on a number-crunching cost/benefit basis.
Pandemics cannot be dealt with by market-dependent mechanisms. The correct response is to compel collaboration and to suspend ‘exchange‘ of various kinds. This is the temporary suspension of market-based interactions. It’s the least-cost/shortest route pathway.
I’ve never had a fight with an employer, I just don’t worship them, they are not the messiah they are, on the whole, just very bad very selfish boys. I’ve worked for three global organisations, two small businesses, and a mid tier Australian law firm.
Only one did I consider a ‘good employer’ but that changed the second it got into a financial pinch.
Job-keeper is a form of Covid Leave….a payment made to enable workers to maintain their incomes because of the pandemic. It is more than a little strange that a worker who is sick might not get such an allowance while workers who are not sick will automatically qualify.
a r @ #143 Friday, May 15th, 2020 – 12:26 pm
Well, I guess they would be eligible after 30% of their residents had died 🙁
When Morrison and his capitalist cronies see a conflict of interest they define it as a confluence of influence.
When they see probity they see a road block.
Nepotism is looking after the family.
Their environment is a sump.
Corruption is when you get caught.
Lies are good.
Crooks and liars.
Buce,
You wanted proof there are Labour Hire companies in Aged Care and Nursing? Here, I’ve made it easier for you. This is a list of the labour hire companies supplying staff to medical and aged care facilities. I especially narrowed down the list to WA, but, as you will see, a few of them are headquartered in Sydney and provide staff Australia-wide. I know for a fact they have been doing it since the early 1980s and were one of the first sectors to go down the labour hire route. They discretely call themselves ‘Agencies’ so as not to attract the declasse imagery of the more overt outfits with a bad name:
https://www.bing.com/search?q=Agency%20nursing%20work%20Western%20Australia&pc=cosp&ptag=G6C999A1C89D6EF69&form=CONBDF&conlogo=CT3210127
Player One @ #147 Friday, May 15th, 2020 – 12:30 pm
for new spots
And it’s not implausible that the demand for new spots tanked after some of the early outbreaks in aged care facilities resulted in crazy-high death rates.