Australians Against COVID - we want our governments to protect us from COVID and enable pathways for us to live again
We call on Prime Minister Albanese, National Cabinet lawmakers to protect us from COVID19 and provide pathways back to living for isolated Australians, including sick, disabled, older, COVID cautious and immunocompromised people.
We call for pathways back to health for vaccine injured Australians and those with long COVID and protections for those who are unable to be vaccinated.
Despite leading the word in the early stages of the pandemic, we have lost our way. Our government has abandoned protections, a cautionary approach to public health, co-design with those most impacted and has adopted the let it rip approach which has proved disastrous in countries like the UK.
It’s time for an honest conversation about the social, human rights, moral and economic implications of Australia's current COVID trajectory. The voices, rights and agency of those at risk must be amplified and listened to.
We call for the reversal of decisions to remove protections including isolation requirements and pandemic disaster leave payments, along with requirements to mask on planes and in indoor spaces. We reject the idea that low paid workers, sick, disabled and older Australians are able to carry the personal responsibility in a global pandemic. We call for improved, truthful and coordinated public information campaigns and timely data on COVID, especially the long-term impacts of COVID-19.
We specifically urge governments to centre human rights in responses as public health emergency orders are modified or lifted. We urge governments to listen to the representatives of those most at risk. Governments have asked people with disability and immune compromised people to take personal responsibility for their own health care during the pandemic. This requires governments to reciprocate with actions, policies and modes of delivery that enable people to minimise their risks.
We support the position of OzSage which aims for elimination of uncontrolled transmission with layered, whole of society protections addressing safe indoor air, respiratory protection and optimal vaccination – a vaccine-PLUS strategy.
There are urgent priorities for governments to ensure that people with disability and COVID impacted Australians are supported, protected and treated with fairness and decency in pandemic circumstances
We agree with the Advocacy for Inclusion Shared Statement issued by leaders working in disability, health policy and advocacy who came together in a public forum in Canberra last month to offer reflections on the management of the ongoing pandemic.
We agree that
We seek the following
We are not calling for lockdowns in the present circumstances. All we ask is for sensible protections and inclusion measures that protect us from COVID and provide a pathway to living again. COVID is not over, and we urge governments to urgently listen and attend to the consequences of their actions.
You can sign this call to action here.
We call on Prime Minister Albanese, National Cabinet lawmakers to protect us from COVID19 and provide pathways back to living for isolated Australians, including sick, disabled, older, COVID cautious and immunocompromised people.
We call for pathways back to health for vaccine injured Australians and those with long COVID and protections for those who are unable to be vaccinated.
Despite leading the word in the early stages of the pandemic, we have lost our way. Our government has abandoned protections, a cautionary approach to public health, co-design with those most impacted and has adopted the let it rip approach which has proved disastrous in countries like the UK.
It’s time for an honest conversation about the social, human rights, moral and economic implications of Australia's current COVID trajectory. The voices, rights and agency of those at risk must be amplified and listened to.
We call for the reversal of decisions to remove protections including isolation requirements and pandemic disaster leave payments, along with requirements to mask on planes and in indoor spaces. We reject the idea that low paid workers, sick, disabled and older Australians are able to carry the personal responsibility in a global pandemic. We call for improved, truthful and coordinated public information campaigns and timely data on COVID, especially the long-term impacts of COVID-19.
We specifically urge governments to centre human rights in responses as public health emergency orders are modified or lifted. We urge governments to listen to the representatives of those most at risk. Governments have asked people with disability and immune compromised people to take personal responsibility for their own health care during the pandemic. This requires governments to reciprocate with actions, policies and modes of delivery that enable people to minimise their risks.
We support the position of OzSage which aims for elimination of uncontrolled transmission with layered, whole of society protections addressing safe indoor air, respiratory protection and optimal vaccination – a vaccine-PLUS strategy.
There are urgent priorities for governments to ensure that people with disability and COVID impacted Australians are supported, protected and treated with fairness and decency in pandemic circumstances
We agree with the Advocacy for Inclusion Shared Statement issued by leaders working in disability, health policy and advocacy who came together in a public forum in Canberra last month to offer reflections on the management of the ongoing pandemic.
We agree that
- Current approaches to managing COVID are unfair and impose inequitable burdens on people with disability, the sick and the old – this is not the hallmark of a decent society.
- A political narrative emphasising personal responsibility is inadequate and problematic within a global pandemic
- The impacts of COVID are having compounding consequences on the quality of life of people who shield from COVID – we can’t go on like this
- We face a cascade of negative consequences, including workforce disruption or failure, supply chain failure long COVID, disability, disease and death
- Aboriginal people, underpaid workers, people living in poverty, regional Australians and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are disproportionately affected by COVID
- We know what works and we need politicians to summon the political will to make necessary changes and to prioritise the most vulnerable
- People with disability have the right to participate in society - Australia is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disability (UNCRPD) and has obligations consequential to Articles 11 and 25 of CRPD
We seek the following
- A public commitment from all Governments to a goal of ending the uncontrolled transmission of COVID in Australia
- Trusted representatives should be invited to address the National Cabinet on the impact of COVID decisions on people at risk including
- workers including teachers, health care and childcare workers
- aged, disabled and immunocompromised Australians
- people who are unable to be safely vaccinated and those with long COVID
- A recognition that a failure to provide COVID safe spaces, places, schools and transport is discrimination against sick, older and disabled people
- The continuation of key protections including a requirement to isolate with requirements for safe indoor air and mask use
- Full data transparency with detailed daily reporting and full disclosure in all at risk settings plus release of all health advice and unredacted minutes of meetings concerning all decision making, including the removal of public health requirements by National Cabinet
- Funding and requirements to make public places including schools, hospitals, offices and community facilities COVID safe with safe indoor air and mask use
- Payments and support systems that are geared to ensure low income and casualised people, are not forced back into work while sick
- A COVID inclusion guarantee including a non-contact service framework, including for government agencies like Centrelink and covering rights to work and study and transact business from home along with equitable contributions from employers and public authorities to the costs of online access to home based work and study for those at risk
- Removal of mutual obligations, especially for those who are at risk of severe disease or death from COVID
- Access to telehealth for all Australians, including in-reach services and recovery support for NDIS participants, people living in congregate (group) settings, people living in aged care facilities
- A commitment to implement the findings of the long COVID inquiry as well as clear clinical, rehabilitation and referral pathways for those with long COVID
- A Medicare line item for long COVID, along with clear definitions in line with the work being carried out in other countries
- The recognition of long COVID as a disability with access to income support and clear pathways to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, especially in early intervention
- Practical community development work for those who are isolated, including ensuring access to a guaranteed care workforce, essential medications and health care treatment
- Continued requirements for isolation and testing of all people working in care roles for any worker providing care to people at risk of health complications from COVID19
- Subsidies or full funding for good quality masks and HEPA filters for those who are most at risk
- A public commitment to ethical and non-discriminatory treatment of disabled, sick and immune compromised people in the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics by all Health Ministers along the lines of the Statement of Concern – COVID-19: Human rights, disability and ethical decision-making
- A National Memorial and one minutes silence in all Australian Parliaments should be observed to respect those who have died from COVID
We are not calling for lockdowns in the present circumstances. All we ask is for sensible protections and inclusion measures that protect us from COVID and provide a pathway to living again. COVID is not over, and we urge governments to urgently listen and attend to the consequences of their actions.
You can sign this call to action here.