John,

Welcome to Labor’s Senate Select(ions) - a wrap of the latest developments from the Senate.

This week saw a rare and significant event in the Senate – the censure of Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Richard Colbeck.

Not only have more than 500 Australians in aged care tragically died of COVID-19, we’ve heard horrific stories of neglect in aged care, and this week it was revealed that 100 older Australians in aged care are being raped, assaulted and even killed every week.

Richard Colbeck has lost the confidence of the Australian people and now he’s lost the confidence of the Senate.

The only decent thing left for Richard Colbeck to do is resign as the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians.

If he refuses to resign the Prime Minister must sack him. This as a test of Scott Morrison’s leadership.

The protection racket for the failed Minister must end. 

POWERFUL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LABOR SENATORS

This Minister has been warned repeatedly; he’s ignored the warnings and failed to act.

In a compelling speech, Senator Gallagher catalogued the extent of the crisis in aged care.

As Senator Polley points out, Australians deserve to have confidence in the aged care sector.

STILL NO JOBS PLAN AS AUSTRALIA FALLS INTO RECESSION

This week the National Accounts confirmed that Australia has fallen into the worst recession since the Great Depression and that the economy had fallen by 7% - the worst quarterly contraction since records began. 

One million Australians are unemployed right now and another 400,000 are expected to lose their jobs by Christmas but Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg still don’t have a jobs plan.

Shadow Finance Minister, Katy Gallagher reflected on these devastating numbers and highlighted how important a plan was for the people who are really struggling at the moment.

STILL NO PLAN FOR AUSTRALIANS STRANDED OVERSEAS EITHER

This week we learned the number of Australians stranded overseas has jumped to 23,000 – that’s up more than 20 per cent in a fortnight.

It’s eight weeks since Scott Morrison rushed an announcement on caps for incoming passengers – and there’s still no plan to deal with the consequences.

Labor has a motion in the Senate calling on the Morrison Government to tackle price gouging by the airlines, consider using federal resources to increase quarantine capacity, and put all options on the table to repatriate stranded Australians.  

You can share our call for action from the Morrison Government on Facebook here.

SCOTT MORRISON’S NEW LINK TO SPORTS RORTS SCANDAL REVEALED

This week revelations came to light exposing new links between Scott Morrison and the sports rorts scandal.

Under questioning from Senator Nita Green, the Australian National Audit Office revealed dumped Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie directly pitched to Mr Morrison to expand the community sport infrastructure grant program from $30m to $100m – after her senior adviser created talking points showing how a more expensive program could fund more projects in marginal seats.

The Prime Minister needs to come clean on his role in corrupting this program because it looks like he is up to his neck in it. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this week’s Labor Senate Select(ions). 

Please stay safe and stay healthy. 

Senator Penny Wong
Labor Leader in the Senate

Australian Labor Party
Authorised by P. Erickson, ALP, Canberra.
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