3 years ago
MORRISON MUST FINALLY DELIVER FOR ARTS WORKERS
TONY BURKE MP
There is finally a glimmer of hope for Australia’s arts and entertainment workers.
It has been nearly three months since Labor first called on the Morrison Government to help this sector, which has been completely shut down by the coronavirus restrictions.
We have called for a comprehensive industry support package, including support for workers themselves – many of whom have been shut out of the government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy.
This was the first sector to be shut down and it’ll be one of the last to emerge from this crisis. It has been decimated by social distancing restrictions and there is still much hardship to come.
Yet just last week we had Finance Minister Mathias Cormann denying there was a problem, suggesting arts workers could not get JobKeeper because they were not suffering enough.
Today we learnt through leaked documents that Arts Minister Paul Fletcher stubbornly resisted state ministers’ calls for support for the sector too, refusing to sign a communique that would have acknowledged how much trouble the industry’s in.
Now the government appears to have finally opened the door for a rescue package. Hopefully there’s meaningful support on the way.
It would be a cruel hoax to raise expectations and then let people down.
It has been nearly three months since Labor first called on the Morrison Government to help this sector, which has been completely shut down by the coronavirus restrictions.
We have called for a comprehensive industry support package, including support for workers themselves – many of whom have been shut out of the government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy.
This was the first sector to be shut down and it’ll be one of the last to emerge from this crisis. It has been decimated by social distancing restrictions and there is still much hardship to come.
Yet just last week we had Finance Minister Mathias Cormann denying there was a problem, suggesting arts workers could not get JobKeeper because they were not suffering enough.
Today we learnt through leaked documents that Arts Minister Paul Fletcher stubbornly resisted state ministers’ calls for support for the sector too, refusing to sign a communique that would have acknowledged how much trouble the industry’s in.
Now the government appears to have finally opened the door for a rescue package. Hopefully there’s meaningful support on the way.
It would be a cruel hoax to raise expectations and then let people down.