Page 1401 - Week 05 - Thursday, 18 June 2020
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contacted months after they were stood down to be told that they must take their annual leave.
Even though they are entitled to JobKeeper, Casino Canberra was not prepared to support them in their application for JobKeeper. Instead, they did not give employees an opportunity to decide what they wanted to do. They did not give these workers a chance to think about what might be best for them. They were given a three-minute phone conversation saying, “You take your leave at half pay or you take it at full pay, but that is your only choice today”.
It is a really sad state of affairs that, in this day and age in Canberra, workers are still being bullied, are still being disadvantaged, and are still not given the opportunity to seek advice and to have a think about what is best for their families and their circumstances, and about how they would choose to use their time off.
Some of them took their annual leave because they wanted to. That was their choice; they asked for their annual leave to be used during this time. Many others were not given the same opportunities; they were just told that they had to without anyone giving them a second piece of advice.
I was lucky enough to talk to many of these workers. We went along to try and have a polite conversation with Casino Canberra. Unfortunately, they would not meet with these workers. They would not have a conversation with these workers. They would not hear the frightened voices of these workers.
So today I stand at this Assembly and I call on Casino Canberra to get in touch with the United Workers Union, and the workers they have bullied, to have that conversation. Let those workers have their say. We have opportunities to help. The ACT government has put many things in place to help support businesses throughout this pandemic. It is a terrible shame that Casino Canberra are not supporting their workers throughout this time. I thank those workers for meeting with me and for working with their union to try and have their voices heard to make things better for them.
Order of Australia—recipients
MR GUPTA (Yerrabi) (6.36): Today I would like to offer my congratulations to the most recent recipients of the Order of Australia Medal. The awards were given on the Queen’s Birthday, and I am proud to say that, of the 933 Australians who were recognised, 39 live in the ACT. This round of awards serves as a timely reminder of the amazing things Canberrans are capable of. More than anything else, the last few months have taught us the importance of community and caring for one another, and the medal recipients are an example we should all be looking to.
The Order of Australia Medal is designed to allow ordinary Australians to be recognised for extraordinary achievements, and it is reassuring to know that so many Australians continue to work so hard to serve their community and make Australia the wonderful country it is. Every recipient has done something truly outstanding, but I would like to highlight how wonderful it is to see immigrants receiving awards for
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