Sick pay guarantee
Mr HALSE (Ringwood) (12:51): Until last Monday Victorian workers employed casually had two options if they fell sick on a workday: going to work sick or staying at home and not getting paid—quite honestly, two appalling choices. That is not good enough for casualised workers who are some of our state’s best and brightest and who have held multiple industries up through the most recent and current pandemic crisis. I myself have worked as a casual in supermarkets, in hospitality, in retail and in aged care. I have organised aged care workers and healthcare workers who have never had a day of sick pay in their lives. I know the panic of waking up sick when it means you have to choose between giving your body the rest it needs or keeping the lights on and paying the bills. This is why I am incredibly proud of our new five days of sick pay policy announced on Labour Day. In a fitting nod to the mighty Victorian trade union movement, we are guaranteeing five days of sick pay each year for casual workers who need it in hospitality, food preparation, cleaning, security, laundries, supermarkets, retail as well as aged and disability care. This is an Australian first. It is welcomed by our unions, and it is incredibly well deserved by so many hundreds of thousands of hardworking Victorians.