Chief executive warns of chronic staff shortages, wants better supply of antigen tests
A day after the federal government announced shorter quarantine rules for food and grocery workers, some of Australia’s biggest employer groups are pushing to overhaul coronavirus restrictions for another one million workers across sectors ranging for trucking to retail.
The combined effort also wants to free up supplies of rapid antigen tests and has warned about the risk to the supply of essential products from chronic staff shortages.
In a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said: “It’s urgent that governments get to grips with this because this threatens not to be just a handbrake on our recovery but a handbrake on our economy.”
And with households and employers unable to find the rapid tests, Australian Industry Group chief Innes Willox urged governments to step in to improve supply and help cover some of the cost of the kits.
The Herald reported that Willox and 20 other industry chiefs spoke with Social Services Minister Anne Ruston and Employment Minister Stuart Robert on Tuesday night to set out the risk to supplies of food and other essential items from the shortage of tests and restrictions on workers.
The industry groups want the same help that was offered to food and grocery suppliers, such as a reduction in isolation periods from seven to six days for essential workers who are close contacts with confirmed coronavirus cases.
National cabinet is expected to confirm the easier rules for food and grocery suppliers at a meeting on Thursday.
