Welcome to Politics Live.
Parliament – and the estimates – are back for the first time this week, but it’s the events of the day without yesterday’s sitting that are still on everyone’s mind.
The federal government is scrambling to explain how elderly care once experienced a Covid epidemic, given everything the industry and those under its care have been through in the past year. The Covid outbreak in Victoria has once again shown the vulnerabilities of federally funded and regulated nursing homes: While staff at state-run facilities cannot work at other sites, staff private institutions – which fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government – is still able to do so.
It became a problem in this outbreak – again – after a staff member caught Covid from a colleague at one center and then worked at another center.
So far, the federal government has not been able to give a reason other than that there is not enough staff. Greg Hunt said yesterday that states could stop it with a public health order, but that would mean workers – who work at multiple sites in order to earn a living wage – would be forced to lose their wages. Policy and compensation settings have changed in state-run facilities. This did not happen at the federal level, despite the recommendations of the royal commission.
We’ll keep you posted on all of this, and all that is going on with Victoria. There are fears the lockdown will be extended beyond the end of this week – authorities did not seem confident yesterday they had it under control. There are more than 270 exposure sites and 4000 people considered to be primary or secondary contacts. Each day has seen four to five stubborn new cases – most of which have been linked – but the numbers indicate an extension of the lockdown is likely. I am really sorry. We will bring you everything you need to know ASAP.
We’ll also update you on what’s happening in Parliament and the Estimates hearings – Mike Bowers is with you as always, with Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin, Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst.
It’s a sitting day, you have Amy Remeikis with you most of the day. I’m just at my second coffee – but a third absolutely calls me.
Ready? Let’s go.