Month: April 2021

Labour force figures released today by the ABS show that the Australian labour market continued to recover strongly in March 2021, with employment increasing by a robust 70,700 over the month, exceeding all market expectations.
There are now a record 13,077,600 Australians in work, with the level of employment now 74,300 (or 0.6 per cent) above its pre-COVID level in March 2020 and 947,100 (or 7.8 per cent) higher than the trough in the labour market recorded in May 2020.
The increase in employment over the month was due, entirely, to a rise in part-time jobs, which increased by 91,500 (or 2.2 per cent) in March, to a record high of 4,203,400. Part-time employment is now 76,800 (or 1.9 per cent) above the level recorded in March 2020.
While full-time employment fell by 20,800 (or 0.2 per cent) over the month, to 8,874,200 in March 2021, the decline this month was not surprising, given the five consecutive monthly increases totalling 359,600 recorded between October 2020 and February 2021.
Women accounted for the vast majority of the rise in employment in March, up by 55,400 (or 0.9 per cent), to a record high of 6,229,600 in March 2021, while male employment also rose, by 15,300 (or 0.2 per cent).
Aggregate hours worked continued to increase in March, up by 38.3 million hours (or 2.2 per cent), and are now 21.8 million hours (or 1.2 per cent) above the level recorded in March 2020.
The level of unemployment in Australia fell by 27,100 (or 3.4 per cent) over the month, to 778,100 in March 2021, but remains 62,100 (or 8.7 per cent) higher than it was a year ago.
The unemployment rate also decreased over the month, by 0.2 percentage points, to 5.6 per cent, but is still above the 5.2 per cent recorded in March 2020.
The stronger labour market conditions that continued into March also encouraged more people to enter the labour market, with the participation rate increasing by 0.2 percentage points over the month, to an historic high of 66.3 per cent in March 2021, above the 65.9 per cent recorded a year ago.
The rise in overall participation was driven, entirely, by women, with the female participation rate increasing by 0.4 percentage points over the month, to a record high of 61.8 per cent in March 2021.
The Government welcomes today’s positive labour force results, but acknowledges the economic and labour market fallout from COVID-19 will continue for some time to come. The Government has provided unprecedented direct economic support to help rebuild the economy and put Australia back on the road to recovery.
This includes record levels of investment in skills and training, new infrastructure projects, tax cuts, unprecedented business investment incentives and new targeted support, such as the $1.2 billion aviation and tourism package.
The Government’s Economic Recovery Plan, described as ‘key’ to saving jobs by the OECD, will continue to create employment opportunities in Australia and will help to secure this country’s economic and labour market future.

Australian Greens Disability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said today the Government’s plans to stall the introduction of compulsory independent assessments was an acknowledgement of the broad opposition to the controversial changes from disabled people and peak advocacy organisations.
“It’s pretty clear that the new NDIS Minister has seen the writing on the wall about compulsory independent assessments,” Steele-John said, “Which is a direct result of pressure from our community, who have been campaigning against them from the very beginning!”
“But, the Liberals have a track record of introducing dodgy legislation, pushing it back due to community pressure only to re-introduce it later on when everyone’s guard is down.
“This is exactly the same tactics this government used to ram the racist cashless debit card legislation through the Senate in the final hours before we parted for Christmas break at the end of last year, and it is exactly what I anticipate they will do with these changes to our NDIS.
“We must not back down now. Earlier this week we saw proof – in the form of a leaked internal document – that Scott Morrison and the Liberals are trying to kick disabled people off the NDIS and cut money out of our plans because they think that disabled people are a financial burden.
“When the plan to introduce compulsory independent assessments was announced, our community said very clearly that this proposal was just a smokescreen for blocking access and cutting support.
“Scott Morrison, the Liberals and their mates in the agency told us we were being ridiculous; they told us these changes were about “consistency” and “fairness”. We knew they were lying and now we have proof.
“Let’s be clear – the Morrison government has been gaslighting disabled people for years about their plans for the NDIS. Why would we trust them now when they say they will consider the evidence and feedback from the second Independent Assessment trial before making a decision about the future of these changes?
“As disabled people our concerns, conclusions and instincts are so often dismissed. Today’s announcement is a reminder that our collective bullshit detector is more than a match for this trash-fire government!”

The Greens say the government should use unallocated discretionary funds set aside for COVID to begin work on a publicly-owned domestic vaccine manufacturer. If the government fails to act, the Greens plan to move in the Senate to demand action on domestic vaccine production when Parliament resumes.
The Greens call on the Government to ensure that the 2021/22 budget allocates funding for the urgent development of publicly-owned mRNA vaccine manufacturing capability in Australia, and that it immediately initiates this work by drawing on $1 billion from the $10 billion made available in the 2020/21 Advance to the Finance Minister, which was boosted for the specific purpose of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of which remains unallocated.
The Greens say this discretionary budget was conceived to deal with unexpected costs of the pandemic and shoring up vaccine supplies against international uncertainty is a perfect example of a universally beneficial application of the fund.
The Government previously announced $1b in funding to support the domestic manufacture of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The Greens are calling for $1b to be allocated to a publicly-owned manufacturer which has mRNA capacity. The Greens together with scientists have been calling for domestic mRNA manufacturing capacity for several months.
Current expert advice and international experience suggests that it could take 6 months to construct and commence mRNA production domestically in Australia, which is not only competitive with the Government’s best guess timeline around international vaccine imports, but vastly superior, as it would provide a permanent buffer against unexpected events overseas.
Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP said:
“We should be able to make each key type of COVID vaccine here in Australia, to look after ourselves and our neighbours.
“By failing to diversify domestic vaccine production, the government has left us exposed to international events and the whims of big drug corporations.
“If the government had set up a publicly-owned vaccine maker when the Greens first called for it almost a year ago, it could be up and running by now.
“This government wants to build a publicly funded gas power plant to cook the planet, but not a publicly funded vaccine facility to keep Australians safe.
“So much of Scott Morrison’s failures have come as a result of poor planning for international uncertainty, and assuming that everything will go smoothly from here is reckless.
“The government set aside $10b in discretionary funding for the COVID response. The government should immediately direct $1b of the unallocated discretionary funds to help set up a publicly-owned vaccine manufacturer with mRNA capability.
“This is exactly the kind of public health measure that the government should be using the discretionary budget to fund. If Scott Morrison fails to act, the Greens will be moving in Parliament during the Budget session to demand funding for domestic vaccine production.
“The abandonment of the vaccination timetable is in part due to the Government’s failure to heed calls to develop domestic, publicly-owned vaccine production.”
Greens Health spokesperson, Senator Rachel Siewert said:
“Australia unfortunately sold off our publicly-owned vaccine capacity – cheaply. Now it’s time to buy back the farm.
“If we had domestic mRNA manufacturing capacity established in Australia, we would be in a position to roll-out the vaccines we need with a timeline that we had some control over.
“The Greens put the case for publicly-owned domestic vaccine production to the government a year ago. But we say today that it is better late than never, and in the post-Covid era such capacity will put us in good stead for decades to come.
“With publicly-owned domestic mRNA manufacturing capacity, we will be able to beat this pandemic, and any one that follows it. With domestic vaccine production we’ll be able to rapidly adjust to new strains as they develop, and  become a vaccine production hub for the region.”