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.

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/

Amidst the ongoing COVID pandemic and the greatest supply chain crunch Australia has ever seen, Patrick Terminals is willing to throw a spanner in the works of Australian port operations by cancelling their entire workforce’s Employment Agreement and forcing an unprecedented return to the basic Award. This would have a catastrophic impact on shifts, productivity and put an end to 24 hour operations at Patrick’s terminals in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth and make it harder for Australian businesses and consumers to access vital household goods.

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.

Our elected representatives need to have the ability to represent us, the members, free of harassment and the threat of disciplinary hanging over their heads like the hangman's noose. The actions displayed from Sydney Trains set a terrible precedent and will impede the movement's ability to bargain into the future due to workplace delegates being in fear of the employment.

We are Care and Custodial officers who work for contractor Ventia under the Department of Justice (“DoJ”) Court Security and Custodial Services (“CS&CS”) contract. Some of us have worked in this role for 20 years and have not once received long service leave. The contract constantly changes providers and has been mismanaged since it was privatised by the Department of Justice in 2000. We work in a challenging role and a risky environment, transporting persons in custody to hospitals and keeping a watch on persons in custody who have left the prisons for the day, for whatever reason. The contract in its form is simply unsustainable. We deal with a high turnover of staff, untrained guards (often subcontractors the company uses to keep costs down), low morale, and low paid, insecure, casualized jobs. After being stonewalled on two occasions by the company and the Fair Work Commission when we tried to take protected industrial action, we are calling for the WA State Government to bring the contract back in house and provide us with safe, secure and reliable jobs we can count on.

Access to a safe, sustainable and affordable housing is a growing problem across Victoria and Australia. More than half of Australia’s low-income renters are now paying so much for a roof over their heads that they can’t afford basic essentials like food and clothing and it is only getting worse. Poverty is increasing with fewer people being able to afford private rentals. Women and children fleeing family violence, young people are among those who find it most tough to access affordable rentals. There are currently over 50,000 applications (over 100,000 people) on Victoria’s social housing waiting list. According to census data between 2006 and 2016 homelessness in Victoria rose by 43 per cent. Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning is a long term solution that ensures social housing is baked into the planning of our cities and suburbs.

Safety on the rail network is of paramount importance, and by trying to erode our conditions the NSW Government is lowering those safety standards and putting us all in danger. They are also trying to remove guards from trains - we believe this is an unacceptable risk. Australia has some of the best employment protections in the world thanks to unions fighting for generations to ensure a fair go for all Aussies. But it's a constant battle to maintain these conditions, and the NSW Government is trying to water down our rights and protections. We are fighting to save these for ourselves, for all other public service workers and for the wider community as a whole. The NSW Government imposed a wage freeze on all public servants last year, which amounted to a pay cut in real terms, even for those sectors who had already negotiated higher increases. This is despite a number of senior bureaucrats receiving huge pay rises, sending a clear message to essential workers that they do not matter. All workers deserve a fair pay rise in the current economic environment, and we're fighting to prevent the government from using the pandemic as an excuse to sell us all short.

Charles Street and Charles Lane already is a low speed and low traffic environment and supports mixed-use activity such as cycling and walking. We do not need changes to the parking limits or restrictions on the street.

I’m a proud union member/supporter of the public sector. Public servants dedicate their work to providing quality services and support to our communities. When you won the election in 2017, you asked public servants to support urgent budget repair, and accept a wage increase of $1,000 per year. Now, we are asking you to support them. We are asking you to support the WA public sector that keeps this state running.

Urgent vaccination of education staff is essential for their protection as well as the protection of students and their communities. It will also reduce the need in future to move to remote learning, which is so disruptive for students and parents. Most importantly, it is a key public safety measure to slow the spread of future outbreaks. Childcare, kinder and pre-school workers are, in many cases, continuing to work in very high-contact workplaces even when schools and TAFEs move to remote learning. The slow pace of the vaccine rollout, the lack of supply of vaccines and the failure to heed the call to prioritise education workers is putting staff, students and the broader community at risk.