Welfare recipients to be drafted in proposed solution to worker shortage

International students will be allowed to work more hours and Jobseeker recipients could be drafted to fill vacancies as the PM scrambles to fix the country’s crumbling supply chains.

International students will be allowed to work additional hours and Jobseeker recipients are being considered for roles in Australia’s hardest hit industries as the Commonwealth scrambles to piece together the country’s crumbling supply chains.

Crisis talks held between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and various peak bodies today revealed 20 to 50 per cent of trucking and logistics workers were in isolation or have Covid-19.

The confronting statistic has pushed Mr Morrison to make transport and logistics workers his top priority for isolation exemptions.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is in crisis talks with industry leaders over the pressure Covid isolation is placing on workers. Picture: Adam Taylor

The exemptions previously allowed food and grocery supply chain workers to leave isolation and to go work if they were a close contact — if they are asymptomatic and test negative.

Professions including vets, physiotherapists, and waste collectors were considered by Mr Morrison and his top ministers — and a final list of essential services is being finalised and will be taken to the national cabinet meeting.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the cohort of industry leaders that the goal was to get “as many people as safely back at work in the critical sectors that keep Australia moving as possible.”

“The challenge of Covid with escalating cases is keeping this moving, that’s what riding this wave of Covid means. With so many cases appearing everyday and that are expected to continue until the peak, this will have an obvious impact right across our supply chains,” he said.

Mr Morrison will use the national cabinet meeting to push states and territories to remove red tape on truck drivers crossing borders including the requirement for a rapid antigen test at some borders.

It’s understood the government is preparing to allow international students to temporarily work more than 40 hours a fortnight in the most severely impacted industries.

Dire job shortages will also benefit from a plan proposed by Social Services Minister Anne Ruston which will see people on the government’s JobSeeker payment being introduced, where feasible, into workforces with the most shortages.

Welfare recipients will be drafted into roles with critical worker shortages under a proposed federal government measure. Picture: Adam Yip

The national cabinet meeting will include discussion on the isolation and essential worker definitions, principles for the safe return to school and a presentation on the economic benefits of keeping schools open.

Restaurant and Catering Industry Association CEO Wes Lambert said he made “a good case” for the hospitality industry to be considered for isolation exemptions.

“We certainly made our case that hospitality is in the food supply chain because nearly 40 per cent of meals are eaten out of home. Not considering it in the food supply chain could potentially have disastrous results,” he said.

Industry leaders such as Restaurant and Catering Industry Association CEO Wes Lambert each made their case to have workers exempted from isolation. Picture: Adam Taylor

Potential changes to isolation rules for waste collection workers follows authorities over Sydney begging for patience from residents in the wake of overflowing bins, with up to 30 per cent of workers laid low by Covid-19.

Inner West, Canterbury-Bankstown and Strathfield Councils are among the councils which have warned residents in the last week to expect delays to collections.

Residents in several Sydney councils are facing overflowing bins as garbage collectors are forced into self-isolation. Picture: John Grainger

Gayle Sloan, CEO of the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia, warned workers were at “breaking point”.

“What we’re finding is that 30 per cent of our workers are in quarantine or isolation,” she said.

“Everyone’s working really hard making sure the public’s not affected – but we’re really at breaking point.”

The impact of isolating couriers has also hit the auto mechanics industry hard, as businesses report unprecedented difficulties in accessing basic parts for repairs.

Supply chain issues have worsened in recent weeks for Fernside Automotive’s Shannon Davis and Richard Minaca. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Struck services also include childcare, with a shocking 302 day care centres across NSW temporarily closed as Omicron surges through staff and unvaccinated children, according to the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority.

Train and bus drivers are likewise being exposed to Covid cases multiple times a day forcing crews into isolation and reducing major transport networks to permanent weekend timetables.

Emails seen by The Daily Telegraph show train drivers are receiving dozens of emails a week as their co-workers either test positive or become close contacts.

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union called it an “escalating crisis in Australia’s transport and logistic freight supply chain” and is demanding free rapid antigen tests for its essential workers.

Sydney’s public transport network has struggled to cope with hundreds of employees off work self-isolating. Gaye Gerard

“Our transport network has been severely impacted by increasing Covid case numbers. Timetables have been overhauled to accommodate hundreds of transport workers who have either contracted the virus or been a close contact and directed to self-isolate,” Alex Claassens, RTBU NSW Secretary said.

Already understaffed aged care facilities have become desperately short as they struggle to keep the deadly disease from reaching the single most vulnerable cohort of Australians, workers on the ground have revealed.

Aged Care Watch allows staff to anonymously report what’s going on in their facilities across Australia and hundreds of shifts have reportedly gone unfilled.

NSW has received almost 400 reports of missed shifts, stressed and overworked staff, unpaid work and unsatisfactory conditions for residents in the last month alone.

Originally published as Welfare recipients to be drafted in proposed solution to worker shortage