Labor Senator, Deborah O’Neill has weighed in on local COVID-19 restrictions to the construction industry, calling on the NSW Government to allow Central Coast tradies to return to work on Friday.
Construction sites were ordered to close on Monday, July 19 for a two-week period to help limit the spread of community transmission during the Greater Sydney lockdown.
Senator O’Neill said she wanted to see the return of construction work on Friday, one week prior to the July 30 deadline.
“There is no community transmission in nearly 5 weeks of lockdown here,” O’Neill said.
“I believe in common sense health orders and that’s why I’m standing up and calling on the Berejiklian government to figure out what all Coasties already know – that we are a region that starts at the Hawkesbury River.
“All 7 treatment plants on the [Coast] returned negative results for COVID-19 this week.
“It’s time for the Premier Berejiklian and Adam Crouch to let the hardworking small businesses and tradies, labourers and apprentices in in construction who live and work on the Coast get back to work.
“For larger employers and job sites I call for 25% of the Central Coast workforce work on larger Central Coast sites to return to work with a COVID Safe Plan.”
O’Neill said the Federal Government’s ‘cruel’ refusal to reinstate the JobKeeper scheme had affected businesses across the Coast.
“Most of those in construction are small business or sole traders and the impact of the shutdown has been massive,” she said.
“They will have had no income for a week already.
“The clock is ticking.
“The Local Business Chamber has reported to me that upwards of 44,000 locals (out of 110,000) have been affected by the shut down if you count supply chain.
“25% of all businesses on the Coast are in construction, the highest of any SA4 region.
“How many will still be standing in another week, or two or three if the government extends this “Sydney” lock down?”
Source:
Media release, July 22
Senator Deborah O’Neill
I think all these workers should take vaccines before they try to come back to work.
My family has run out of money l am helping im on the pension im 78 years old she is a hairdryer the have no money left to live on
Good call not . As they say watch this space tomorrow then sago back and read your suggestions.
don’t be pathetic there’s now covid19 cases on the coast, grin and bear it like the rest of us. I always vote labor due to my beliefs in the system, don’t blow our chances of getting in due to your greed! If I get covid19 I will die for sure and let me assure you, it wont take long!
By the way primarily the cases to hit the Central Coast have come from construction sites, the last lot spreading fast through Charmhave, San Remo, Wyong etc, etc and guess what a reliable source has just informed me that the counsil or whoever is in charge of Covid19 supplies needs to be sacked because, yes, you guessed it we’ve run out of testers already at Wyong, Doyalson and Budgewoi, so go on worry about your pocket first before the sick and elderly on the CENTRAL COAST, Idiot, this person doesn’t deserve to fly her politics under the labor flag, why don’t you join in incompetent libs who got us into this mess to begin with hey?!!
The tradies that work on residential sites have a better chance of social distancing. Some of the high rise, a lo t of trades mingle.