Health Minister Mark Butler issued a dire warning to Australians to shake their complacency after federal modelling suggested the current wave could last for another six weeks. But a call for employers to reconsider the need for workers to come into the office has drawn the ire of Senator Lambie. Speaking to Nine, the Tasmanian senator claimed Mr Butler needed a reality check.“I don‘t know what Mark Butler is on,” Senator Lambie told Nine. “Great, all the nurses, the aged care staff, no worries – work from home – no problem whatsoever.“The reality is most people don‘t work for corporate jobs mate – wake up, it’s not as simple as that.”Her comments come as trade unions demand the Albanese government reinstate the $750 per week pandemic leave payments. Australian Manufacturing Workers‘ Union National Secretary Steve Murphy said the government needed to act on its promise to protect essential workers. “This Labor Government said to essential workers that it had our backs. We need those words turned into deeds and not simply allow the cost of the pandemic to be pushed on to workers,” he said.Working from home“Workers need access to free rapid antigen tests, paid pandemic leave & consistent messaging on the use of face masks.”Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday defended his decision to scrap the payment, citing the debt left behind by the previous government. But Senator Lambie, whose vote the government will need to court to pass legislation through the upper house, urged Mr Albanese to reconsider. “I can tell you those people that are sitting on the poverty line … They are going to work and they‘re going to spread everything because they’re going to feed their kids,” she said.“You’re going to do that first and foremost before anything else. You will go to work if you haven’t got a back up and you need those wages. It’s that simple.“If he wants to play Russian roulette like that, then let him take that and let him make those decisions.” Instead, the government should consider scrapping its support for the previous Morrison government’s Stage 3 tax cuts. “He‘s more interested in helping out the rich than he is for those people that probably shouldn’t be back at work spreading Covid,” Senator Lambie added.
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