The Morrison Government last night rejected the chance to save thousands of Australians jobs, preferring to vote with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation to deny Dnata workers access to JobKeeper.
Pauline Hanson and Scott Morrison had a choice about whether they were going to stand up for hard-working aviation cleaners, caterers, ramp worker and security officers.
They chose instead to leave these workers behind, adding to Australia’s unemployment queues.
It’s been over a month since one of Australia’s leading aviation services companies, Dnata, told its 5,500 workforce that the company is ineligible for the JobKeeper wage subsidy program.
This came after the Government changed the JobKeeper rules on 1 May to exclude companies with foreign ownership models like Dnata.
This is despite the fact that every cent of the JobKeeper supplement will go to the Australian workers who need it. None of this money would end up in the hands of a foreign-owned company.
These are Australian workers who have paid their taxes in Australia just like everyone else – but they’re being denied proper support simply because of who owns their company. And let’s not forget it was this Government that approved the foreign takeover in the first place.
Since the Morrison Government took this decision, Dnata’s workers and their two unions, the ASU and TWU, have been campaigning tirelessly.
Australia’s economic recovery from this crisis will rely on our aviation industry, and our aviation industry relies on the essential workers at Dnata.
Labor joins with Dnata workers in thanking the Greens, Centre Alliance and Jacqui Lambie for supporting today’s motion.
Despite the failure of the motion, the Treasurer retains the power to extend JobKeeper support to Dnata workers at the stroke of a pen. He should do so immediately.
With Tony Burke and Tony Sheldon.