Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to talk about the aviation workers in my electorate. I did raise this issue in here just a week or so ago. The airport job cuts in Tasmania have now reached over 100—100 people who no longer have the jobs that they had just a few months ago. Indeed, it has climbed from 30 to 100 due to border and flight cancellations around the country.

The thing that we know though is that these workers are not eligible for any support. I want to read from one of my constituents who is one of those workers: 'Just an update, we're now looking at 80 to 90 staff that have been stood down in Hobart with no pay and no support from anyone. My understanding is that this is because they are on standdown. They're not able to get any support at all as they've not been terminated. I'm sort of lucky at the moment and have 15 hours this week, instead of around 30 to 40 hours. But with all the late cancellations I won't receive our next roster until possibly Friday with a chance of being stood down like the others. I've been working at Hobart Airport for nearly 20 years. I have never felt so unsure as to how I'm going to survive this with no help.' My constituents and constituents around Tasmania are feeling like this today because the government and the Prime Minister did not do their jobs. If the Prime Minister had done his job on vaccine and if the Prime Minister had done his job on fit-for-purpose quarantine my constituents would not be in this position.