Cost of living keeps going up while wages and conditions are continually eroded away, people receiving government support are trying to get by with just $42 a day and living in poverty. The gap between wages for men and women is still around 22.8%. The dream of owning your own home has become out of reach for too many people with rentals also becoming more unaffordable, meaning the demand for public housing is increasing.

These nurses and carers love caring for their residents, but they have been stretched to breaking point by heavy workloads, poor wages and tough working conditions. During the COVID-19 pandemic they have gone above and beyond to keep their residents safe, working double shifts of up to 16 hours, working through their lunch breaks, and often working short staffed. We care about the quality of aged care in Queensland and we call on Arcare management to give their hard-working nurses and carers a fair pay rise.

These proposed laws seek to entrench discrimination and vilification of LGBTQ people, as well as women, people with disabilities, and single parents, on the pretext of religious freedom. The bill will: 1. Override state laws to allow any person making a ‘statement of belief’ to discriminate against queer people, women, and people with disabilities. 2. Allow religious schools to discriminate at the point of enrolment against queer students, and continue to discipline and fire queer teachers - under the guise of 'religious freedom'. 3. Prevent public health services from ensuring patients aren’t discriminated against by health practitioners exercising ‘religious freedom’. 4. Prevent universities from requiring students to meet professional standards if they object to them on religious grounds Federal Labor has made only the mildest of technical recommendations to reform the current draft of the bill, failing to address some of the most damaging aspects of the legislation. As Labor members, we are asked to finance, volunteer for, and otherwise fight with our MPs for our rights as working people. Our party is failing to stand up for our values, and for vulnerable communities, by supporting this bill.

Australia's pharmacists were chronically underpaid before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, but with the added pressures brought by the health crisis, more are now burnt out than ever before with many opting to leave the profession. Until pay rates increase, the industry will struggle to retain and attract professionals, increasing the already significant skill shortage.

The Palaszczuk Government has failed to provide direction to universities to ensure a safe and healthy university sector in Queensland. As a result, Vice-Chancellors have made different plans at different universities, creating confusion and inequity and placing staff and students at risk. We need Queensland Health and the Department of Education to sit down with the NTEU and university managements to come up with a uniform plan to make Universities as safe as possible. All university staff, students and their families should sign this petition.

Currently in Australia, a Royal Commission is looking into the shocking cases of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with a disability and Inclusive Education has been recommended during the hearings, utilising the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 9 and 24 (see reference below). These UN Articles can’t be properly implemented in our public schools unless we provide access to people who use wheelchairs. 15-20% of people in Australia have a disability. It makes sense to include disabled people in our community - we are not going away! If you have an understanding of inclusion and don't believe in segregation in our public schools, please sign this petition and share it so we can make this change for our future generations to learn to accept diversity from the time they start school. Thank you for sticking up for those who might be a little different you! Remember - it could be you next who might need to use a mobility device and need to be included... https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-2.html https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/

People with endometriosis in South Australia are suffering without excision surgeries, the only gold standard treatment for endometriosis which have been cancelled or moved indefinitely. Sufferers have done the right thing and have waited months or years for their diagnostic or further treatment surgeries and have now been left in the dark. Having endometriosis isn’t a CHOICE, and the surgery isn’t an elective one but an essential one to be able to live. We know that endometriosis kills and can severely impact internal organs if left untreated. Please bring some light to people suffering with this debilitating condition.

Scott Morrison has left people who are sick, or working in essential jobs, unable to access the Rapid Antigen Tests they need to keep them safe and keep things running. RATs should be free and accessible for all through Medicare. Because Scott Morrison failed yet again, they are not. He failed to deliver a national quarantine system, stuffed up the vaccine rollout, has left our aged care system in crisis, our hospitals struggling to keep up – and now we don’t have access to the tests we need to keep our workplaces and our families safe.

Unions and business urged Scott Morrison to make rapid antigen tests free back in October. He could have chosen to act but he did nothing. The UK and US Governments have already acted to make rapid covid tests free and accessible to their citizens, once again Scott Morrison is leaving Australia behind. Right now, a single test can cost up to $20, if you’re lucky enough to find a chemist that still has them. That’s $100 for a family of five. That might be small change to the Prime Minister, but it’s out of reach for many families. When asked whether he would make rapid antigen tests free for Australians who need them, Mr Morrison suggested it wasn’t the Government’s job to fix the problem anyway. When a journalist specifically put to Mr Morrison that “not everyone can afford Rapid Antigen Tests”, the PM glibly replied, “some people can, some people can’t”. We've seen time and time again that when the going gets tough, Scott Morrison goes missing. We can't afford this inaction right now. It's time for the Federal Government to step up and make rapid antigen tests free and accessible.

Essential workers have continued to turn up to work throughout the pandemic. Already there have been over 700 public servants and disability workers infected with COVID-19 at work with disability workers also infected. Already we have seen PSA members in Disability group homes, Juvenile Justice, NSW Prisons, Private Prisons, transport, and now we are experiencing 100s of school closures and exposures. From the start of the pandemic there has been presumptive legislation to support essential workers when they get COVID with workers compensation, without the impossible task of having to prove you got it at work. This protects the following workers: -public health employees, -disability facilities, -educational institutions, including pre-schools, schools and tertiary institutions -police and emergency services -transport services, -libraries, -courts and tribunals, -correctional centres and detention centres, -places of public entertainment or instruction (including, museums, galleries, cultural institutions and casinos), The government has introduced a Bill to repeal these laws, which will mean that if you get COVID at work, you have to prove that you got it at work. The NSW Government has said that this change may take over $600 million out of the hands of injured workers and cut 75% of these claims. These cuts passed the lower house in November with all the Government members. The Bill has been referred to the Upper House Committee where it is likely to be voted on in February.

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) review into Ambulance Victoria (AV) has found bullying, discrimination, victimisation, and sexual harassment are rife throughout the service. "We heard that some leaders at Ambulance Victoria – including senior leaders, managers, and other senior staff – are undermining organisational messaging on a commitment to workplace equality and respectful behaviour by displaying incivility or unlawful workplace behaviours and by failing to call out this behaviour when it occurs." (Page 296, VEOHRC Independent Review into Workplace Equality in Ambulance Victoria) AV staff have bravely spoken out about nepotism and discrimination, and no amount of policy and procedure can create a safe workplace when senior leaders who fostered this culture of workplace harm are in power. "We also heard that individuals who were known to have perpetrated unlawful conduct in the past at Ambulance Victoria had been promoted to positions of authority." (Page 281 VEOHRC review) To rebuild trust within AV, senior leaders responsible for fostering the “boys club” and offering promotion and protection to bullies, should be investigated and their employment terminated. Within AV’s latest People Matters Survey, only 34% of staff said they believed senior leaders demonstrate honesty and integrity. AV senior leadership has scored the lowest out of 17 Victorian public sector health organisations on integrity, honesty, inclusion and support. (Page 53, People Matters Survey) 5 of the 6 drivers of unlawful and harmful workplace conduct at AV are attributable to the AV Executive. (Page 278 VEOHRC review) A fundamental shift in culture requires an equally large shift in the senior leadership at Ambulance Victoria to lead the service out of the dark. The committed members of AV’s workforce who have endured years of inaction need to see change today.

Right now, women who are suffering miscarriages, pregnancy terminations, hysterectomies, sexual violence and more are being co-located in the same ward as families celebrating the birth of their newborns, and are surrounded by the sound of newborns crying. It’s a traumatising situation for these vulnerable women and the staff caring for them, and has led to serious adverse psychological and emotional effects on families and staff alike. Despite fierce opposition from RBWH midwives, nurses and patients, Metro North HHS management continues to ignore the needs of women. Management initially claimed that this co-location was an emergency “temporary measure” due to COVID-19. Then management suddenly announced the co-location as permanent. Despite the arrangements being entirely inconsistent with obstetric and gynaecological best practice guidelines, no effort has been made to find a suitable location for these patients and staff, despite there being alternatives available. Such callous disregard for the wellbeing of women is unacceptable anywhere, and certainly has no place in Queensland’s preeminent Women’s Hospital. We call on HHS management to find a safe and appropriate location for gynaecology patients that enables health staff to provide women-centred care, and which adheres to The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Standards for Gynaecological Care.