Thread by @SenatorSiewert

I've just moved the Greens second reading amendment in in the Senate.

The Government’s response to #COVID19 continues to see large sections of our population left behind.

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The Greens sought to amend the #JobKeeper package to provide proper support to at least the following groups -

#COVID19

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1. Disability Support Pension recipients, carers, and age pensioners who receive Commonwealth Rent Assistance, none of whom will be eligible for the $550 a fortnight COVID-19 supplement and will be trapped beneath the poverty line

2. First Nations peoples who are at severe risk of harm from COVID-19 and urgently need adequate personal protective equipment and access to safe housing

3. Disabled people, who must have guaranteed continuity of essential disability supports, and have equal access to healthcare to ensure their human rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities are upheld;

4. Those for whom isolation presents a heightened risk of domestic and family violence

5. People in Australia who are not Australian citizens or permanent residents, including asylum seekers on temporary protection visas, people who hold temporary work or skilled visas, international students, people who hold working holiday visas, tourists,

New Zealand citizens on non-protected Special Category Visas, and permanent resident applicants backlogged in processing queues who do not all have access to work, income support, or Medicare

6. LGBTIQ+ people who experience poorer mental health outcomes, and experience discrimination in accessing crisis services

7. Regional and remote communities who have poorer health outcomes and limited access to basic health services

8. Regional and remote communities who have poorer health outcomes and limited access to basic health services

9. People experiencing homelessness, and people facing rental and mortgage stress, who still are yet to see any solution to the homelessness, residential rent and mortgage crisis

10. Local Government employees, who provide essential community services such as childcare, health facilities, and libraries, and have been left out of JobKeeper.