To date only around $120 million in JobKeeper payments appears to have been clawed back from ineligible business and sole trader claimants

 

On 30 March 2020 the Morrison Government announced it would provide a wage subsidy to around 6 million workers who would receive a flat payment of $1,500 per fortnight through their employer, before tax.

The $130 billion JobKeeper payment was expected to help keep Australians in jobs as they tackled the significant economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. The payment was open to eligible businesses that receive a significant financial hit caused by the pandemic and provided the equivalent of around 70 per cent of the national median wage commencing in early May 2020 with payments backdated to 31 March.

The first indication that employers were not going to abide by the rules came in April:

By 21 May 2020 media reports began to reveal that a number of employers had been quick to rort the JobKeeper system.

In June 2020 mention began to be made of ‘pop up’ businesses receiving JobKeeper payments even though these businesses were not created until after the wage subsidy scheme was announced.

By 28 August 2020 more than 15,000 businesses have been removed from the scheme after the Australian Tax Office found them to be ineligible.

In that same month it was revealed that at least 25 companies in the ASX 300 had been paying bonuses worth $24 million to executives and millions more in dividends to shareholders after claiming JobKeeper payments.

Come January 2021 and the Australian Taxation Office is still playing catchup with fraud discovered in the wage subsidy scheme and continues in its attempt to retrieve the hundreds of millions in wage subsidy payments it believes have been paid out in fraudulent employer and sole trader claims.

ABC News, 29 January 2021:

Dodgy employers have signed up jailed criminals, people living outside Australia and even the dead to receive $1,500-a-fortnight JobKeeper payments.

These fictitious employees are among thousands of people being pursued by an Australian Taxation Office (ATO) investigation into rorts of the $130 billion wage subsidy program.

"Client is in jail" is one of the categories being scrutinised as a red flag in around 6,000 cases where employers may have created fictitious employees to take advantage of the JobKeeper scheme, hurriedly launched at the end of March last year to keep the economy afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

Documents obtained using a freedom of information (FOI) application show that, by the end of September, the ATO was investigating 5,974 cases of "inflated employees" in applications for the wage subsidy.

"The reality is you cannot check every application," said lawyer and corporate investigator Niall Coburn.

"So certain things may have been overlooked, but that doesn't stop the Government from now being able to go back and look at the applications in more detail, and that's what seems to be the case here."

Paying the dead

By the end of September, the ATO had 5,974 cases under investigation, with almost a third found to be ineligible. The majority were ineligible because they "involve employers applying under the wrong ABN (business number)".

It noted there "have also been instances of putting spouses 'on the books'," as well as people overseas ("has a valid visa but … out of the country").

A further category of fictious employees were the dead. "Employee in their JobKeeper application that is deceased," the report observed…..

Fraud prevention efforts

In July, the ATO told ABC News 3,000 staff would be doing ongoing reviews of JobKeeper applications.

"At any particular time, we are reviewing between 2 and 3 per cent of JobKeeper applications," an ATO spokeswoman said.

"We will identify those who are intentionally defrauding the system and we will use the full force of the law [to punish them]."

More than 6,500 applications were rejected for a range of reasons, from people making genuine errors to fraudulent behaviour.

In December, the ABC revealed the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) was pursuing criminal investigations into fraud and had issued fines to program applicants who had made false or misleading statements.

BACKGROUND

ABC News, 9 December 2020:

The Australian Taxation Office has 19 active criminal investigations into fraud against the $101 billion JobKeeper scheme.

It has also issued fines to another 19 applicants to the wage subsidy program who have made false or misleading statements, and is considering penalties for another 24.

Since JobKeeper was launched in March, the ATO has clawed back $120 million in payments to applicants who made it into the system but were later found to be ineligible.

"While most businesses and employees are doing the right thing, we have identified concerning and fraudulent behaviour and claims by a small number of organisations and employees," the ATO said in a statement.

The agency declined to comment on whether the criminal investigations relate to employers or employees and would not provide details about any of the businesses involved or when the investigations began.

However, ABC Investigations understands employers and individual workers are being investigated over fraud and abuse of the scheme.

Applicants could face a prison sentence or fines if found guilty of defrauding the scheme……

The fraud investigation revelations come as the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) considers its own probe into the scheme.

According to its website, the ANAO has flagged JobKeeper for a potential audit next year that would include an "examination of the implementation of integrity measures designed to protect the scheme against fraud and other abuse."

The ATO fraud hotline has received more than 10,000 tip-offs about fraud against JobKeeper, including claims that some employers have not been passing on the full subsidy to their employees.

ABC Investigations has also spoken to workers concerned that their employers may have artificially suppressed their revenue in order to qualify for the scheme, for example by delaying invoicing customers or removing popular items from sale in retail stores.

The ATO says it has initiated 14 of the fraud investigations using its powers under the Taxation Administration Act and has referred a further five cases to the Australian Federal Police's Serious Financial Crimes Taskforce.

Smart Company, 10 December 2021:

A marketing company has been made to repay $22,500 in JobKepeer funding, after the Australian Taxation Office received a tip-off the business was misusing the stimulus payments.

The ATO said the tip-off alleged the marketing company had incorrectly claimed JobKeeper for its employees, which came to a total of $12,000 per month.

The ATO’s investigation found two of the company’s four employees were ineligible for JobKeeper, because one was on work experience and not receiving any wages, and the other was hired after March 1, 2020.

The two remaining employees were eligible for JobKeeper, however, the ATO said their employer did not pay them the full $1,500 per fortnight in some periods.

“We determined that it was not an honest mistake and required the employer to repay $22,500,” the ATO said.

The ATO says it is closely tracking the misuse of pandemic support.

The global COVID-19 pandemic appears to be increasing food insecurity & child hunger - even in OECD countries

 

Across the globe widespread food insecurity is a millennia-old enduring problem. It was said to affect an estimated 800 million people worldwide by 2001, with malnutrition in small children being a significant factor.

Action Against Hunger defines hunger thus:

• Hunger is the distress associated with lack of food. The threshold for food deprivation, or undernourishment, is fewer than 1,800 calories per day.

• Undernutrition goes beyond calories to signify deficiencies in energy, protein, and/or essential vitamins and minerals.

• Malnutrition refers more broadly to both undernutrition and overnutrition (problems with unbalanced diets).

• Food security relates to food availability, access, and utilization. When a person always has adequate availability and access to enough safe and nutritious food to maintain an active and healthy life, they are considered food secure.

By December 2020 UNICEF was warning that millions of children in crisis hotspots were ‘on the brink of famine’, highlighting the need of 10.4 million children in Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeast Nigeria, the Central Sahel, South Sudan and Yemen wiho are expectedb to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021.

The African continent and Middle East are extreme examples of the world’s failure to equitably distribute food in times of crisis.

The Global Hunger Index 2020 indicates 33 counties experiencing alarming to serious levels of hunger in their populations and another 26 countries having moderate levels of hunger.

However, although the Index shows that by comparison OECD countries were the least affected by hunger, the COVID-19 global pandemic is increasing hunger, including child hunger, in these countries.

By way of example…………..

According to CNBC Make It in December 2020:

Millions of Americans are facing hunger as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic — and many of those are children. An estimated 17 million children could go without enough to eat this year, according to Feeding America, a leading national nonprofit food bank network.

Nearly 12% of Americans, or 25.7 million people, reported not having enough to eat over the past week, according to the latest Household Pulse Survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Dec. 2. Nearly 14 million households with children report they sometimes or often do not have enough to eat.

In June 2020 iPolitics reported:

One in seven Canadians lived in a household where there was food insecurity in April and those living with children are more likely to be impacted from food insecurity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study from Statistics Canada.

The survey, which was part of the Canadian Perspectives Survey Series (CPSS), collected data from May 4 to 10 from 4,600 respondents in all 10 provinces. Of the participants, 14.6 per cent indicated that they lived in a household where there was food insecurity in the past 30 days.

The survey was based on a scale of six “food experiences” ranging from food not lasting until there was money to buy more, to going hungry because there was not enough money for food. Most Canadians reported only one negative experience, but 2 per cent reported the most severe food insecurity, with five or all six experiences reported.

Canadians who were employed during the week of April 26th to May 2nd, but absent from work due to business closures, layoffs, or other personal reasons related COVID-19, were more likely to be food insecure (28.4 per cent), compared to who were working during that period (10.7 per cent). The rate of food insecurity for those who were not employed during the reference week was in between these two, at 16.8 per cent.

The Guardian also reported in September 2020:

New data from the Food Foundation [UK charity] shared exclusively with the Observer has revealed that almost a fifth of households with children have been unable to access enough food in the past five weeks, with meals being skipped and children not getting enough to eat as already vulnerable families battle isolation and a loss of income…...

A reported 30% of lone parents and 46% of parents with a disabled child are facing food insecurity and finding it difficult to manage basic nutritional needs at home. With schools no longer providing a reprieve for children reliant on free breakfast clubs and school lunches, poorer families are at crisis point…..

The Borgen Project, September 2020:

Food insecurity, fortunately, has reduced to about 10% of New Zealanders in 2019. But with the outbreak of COVID-19, the Auckland City Mission estimated that that number had rocketed to 20%. Between citizens losing jobs, panic-buying at grocery stores and other factors, the pandemic is threatening more widespread food insecurity in New Zealand. Emergency food assistance services have seen large spikes in demand. Additionally, many essential workers may be working full-time but are still not making enough to put food on the table….

Food insecurity in New Zealand remains an important problem. In the face of the COVID-19 outbreak, these problems are becoming harder to ignore. Recently, CPAG released a paper about its ideas to solve food insecurity for New Zealand’s youth, including food programs in schools. It showed that with awareness and advocacy, people can begin to find solutions to these problems. In fact, the 2020 budget plans to expand an existing school lunch program to ensure that by the end of 2021, 200,000 students will receive a healthy lunch every day at school, up from the 8,000 currently receiving aid from the program. This sort of increase is a promising step to reducing the amount of food insecurity for New Zealand’s children.

Additionally, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Auckland City Mission has gone from supporting 450 families to over 1,200 and expect that number to stay high throughout the winter. Thanks to the 2020 New Zealand budget, Auckland City Mission will be able to continue helping those in need.

It is an unprecedented time for food insecurity in New Zealand, especially on top of existing challenges lower-income families have been facing. However, with help from the government and organizations like Auckland City Mission, the country is beginning to put more focus on providing food to those who need it most.

In late 2020 Food Bank Autralia released its Food Bank Hunger Report 2020 which revealed that:

While COVID-19 has made life even more difficult for already-vulnerable Australians, it has launched others into food insecurity for the first time. Almost a third of Australians experiencing food insecurity in 2020

(28%) had never experienced it before COVID-19.

Charities have seen two newly food insecure groups emerging as a result of the pandemic: the casual workforce and international students…..

Government assistance such as JobKeeper and JobSeeker, has been a means of survival for businesses and individuals. For the most vulnerable people in our communities, however, even with these lifelines, it has been anything but smooth sailing. Of those who are in

need of government assistance, only 38% suggest this assistance has helped their situation, whereas 62% are not receiving the help they need (37% needed additional assistance, 21% were ineligible, 4% found it

too difficult to apply)…..

“WE STARTED TO SEE ANOTHER

LAYER ON TOP OF OUR REGULAR

CLIENTS, OF PEOPLE WHO

HADN’T ACCESSED FOOD RELIEF

BEFORE AND WERE DOING OKAY

BEFORE THE PANDEMIC. SOME

HAD TWO WORKING PEOPLE

IN THEIR FAMILIES AND THEN

THEY NO LONGER HAD JOBS…

BECAUSE THEY WERE THROWN

INTO THAT SITUATION, THE

LEVELS OF ANXIETY AND

FEAR ROSE, PEOPLE WERE

VERY WORRIED…PEOPLE LIVE

TO THEIR INCOME. YOU RENT

PLACES YOU CAN AFFORD ON

YOUR INCOME SO WHEN YOU

HAVE NO INCOME, THE FIRST

THING THAT GOES IS FOOD.”

Angie, Reservoir Neighbourhood House.

“THE DEMAND FOR FOOD RELIEF HAS

BEEN VERY UNPREDICTABLE THIS YEAR.

WE’VE HAD TO TAKE EACH WEEK AS IT

COMES. ONE WEEK WE ACTUALLY ENDED

UP GOING STRAIGHT DOWN TO THE

SUPERMARKET AND SPENDING $600 TO

GET EXTRA FOOD JUST BECAUSE THE

DEMAND THAT WEEK WAS FAR GREATER

THAN WE HAD ANTICIPATED. WE HAD

109 FAMILIES COME THROUGH IN THAT

WEEK ALONE WHICH WAS 20 MORE THAN

WE WERE AVERAGING. WE SAW PEOPLE

COMING MORE OFTEN THAN PRE-COVID

UNTIL THE JOBSEEKER PAYMENT

INCREASE AND JOBKEEPER PAYMENTS

CAME. SOME PEOPLE WERE COMING

MORE OFTEN AND SOME WERE COMING

LESS OFTEN DEPENDENT ON WHAT THE

GOVERNMENT WAS DOING AT THE TIME.”

Peter, Kingborough Family Church, Hobart.

Political Cartoons of the Week

 

Peter Broelman

David Rowe

Cathy Wilcox

World's largest islands

Australian's are used to calling mainland Australia "the largest island and the smallest continent" but we rarely wonder who our land mass is being compared to. 

Here's the answer..... 

https://i.redd.it/a1nr8zgq4mzz.png

Uncertainty continues over Australian rollout dates for COVID-19 mass vaccinations

The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 January 2020:

Australia’s vaccine rollout plan is under a cloud after the European Union slapped export controls on COVID-19 vaccines produced within their territory, including the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs the Morrison government is relying on.

The controls, which effectively mean vaccine producers must ask for permission before shipping vials outside the region, will at the very least slow the distribution process for countries outside Europe. 

A spokesman for Health Minister Greg Hunt did not answer specific questions about what the European decision means for Australia’s vaccine rollout. Australia has ordered 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which is being manufactured in Belgium. The first shipment of at least 80,000 doses is due by the end of February.

On ABC News on 25 January 2021, Pfizer Australia Managing Director Anne Harris says surging demand for the Pfizer vaccine around the world has delayed the rollout of the vaccination program in Australia. She is anticipating that there will be a two week delay so the Pfizer vaccine will not arrive until later in February at the earliest.

Bloomberg, 26 January 2021:

European Union regulators proposed requiring drugmakers to flag exports of coronavirus vaccines in advance as the bloc seeks to step up inoculations amid growing anger about delivery delays by AstraZeneca Plc, which faces a fresh grilling at mid-week. 

The proposed “transparency mechanism” for vaccine exports comes after the European Commission expressed “deep dissatisfaction” with a disclosure by Astra that planned deliveries of its Covid-19 vaccine would face delays. The EU’s executive arm says that this would mean significantly fewer deliveries of the jab this quarter than what was foreseen in the advance purchase agreement struck between the two sides last summer.....

The federal government's phased rollout plan is that the vaccines will initially be available at between 30-50 hospitals around the country, with exact locations yet to be confirmed. Then the rollout will be extended to est. 1,000 locations, including GP practices, dedicated vaccine clinics and community health centres. Residential aged care and disability care facilities will be delivered doses to be injected into residents and staff on-site.

The rollout is intended to cover 25.7 million people.

In Phase 1a quarantine and border staff, frontline health workers, aged care and disability staff and residents, will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Up to 1.4 million doses expected to be available.

Phase 1b will see anyone aged over 70, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are over 55, other healthcare workers, younger adults with an underlying condition and high-risk workers will receive a vaccine - likely to be the AstraZeneca vaccine. Up to 14.8 million doses expected to be available.

Phase 2a covers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are between 18-54 years of age, along with others in the population over 50 years old and other critical high-risk workers. Up to 15.8 million doses expected to be available.

Phase 2b is the rest of the adult population, plus anyone from the previous phases that have been missed out. Up to 16 million doses expected to be available.

Phase 3 will see child vaccination but only, but only if medically recommended. Up to 13 million does expected to be available.

NOTE: It is unclear whether the term "dose" is for the preliminary first dose of the two-dose vaccines or refers to the total vaccination per person. As other government documents mention an expectation of acquiring over 104.8 million doses of these two COVID-19 vaccines in 2021, it would appear it is likely the first dose which is mentioned in the three phases. 

UPDATE

The Guardian reported on 29 January 2021 that due to supply issues AstraZeneca is unable to meet the Morrison Government's initial order of 3.8 million doses of its vaccine and the order has been reduced to 1.2 million doses. At this stage Australia's order of 10 million vaccine doses from Pfizer remains unchanged.

Australia quite rightly boasts that it was there at the genesis of the United Nations , but it is not a member in good standing

Australia quite rightly boasts that it was there at the genesis of the United Nations.

However, Australian government and society never quite evolved apace with this peak international intergovernmental body and our relationship has been strained for some time. Most notably during the years Australia was led by the Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison federal governments. 

The strain probably reached its zenith when Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook, Scott John Morrison, blinded by his bromance with then US President Donald John Trump, decided to follow Trump's lead and characterise the United Nations as dysfunctional, in need of reform and further, referred to it as a body which "allowed anti-Semitism to seep into its deliberations – all under the language of human rights".

Since 2017 Australia has been the subject of numerous UN agency reports concerning its treatment of asylum seekers and refugees, the over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by the judicial system, failure to meet its obligations under the Convention of the Rights of the Child including those towards children in crisis or in detention and, its failure to meet its obligations under the Convention of the Rights of People With Disabilities including lack of full access to the justice system, lack of access to housing, forced institutionalisation and forced medical medical treatment.

This is not an exhaustive list of matters that have concerned the United Nations when it comes to Australian society.

These are the opening paragraphs of what Australia’s hard-right federal government told the latest United Nations General Assembly, Human Rights Council, Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Thirty-seventh session, held on 18–29 January 2021 :

1. Australia’s enduring commitment to protecting and promoting human rights is reflected in our strong domestic laws, policies and institutions and in our active international engagement and advocacy. Australia is proud of its contribution to the founding of the United Nations (UN) and the international human rights framework. Australia’s inaugural membership of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in 2018–20 reflects its continued commitment to this framework. Australia’s laws and institutions function to protect human rights and support robust public debate of human rights issues.

2. Since our second cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2015, Australia has made significant achievements in the realisation of human rights. These include significant investments addressing family and domestic violence, human trafficking and modern slavery and the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

3. COVID-19 is presenting new challenges in the protection of human rights across Australia. However, our strong democratic institutions have ensured that our response carefully balances the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health with other rights, such as liberty of movement, which may need to be temporarily curtailed. Particular regard has been paid to the rights of people with unique vulnerabilities……

The Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Summary of Stakeholders’ submissions on Australia told a rather different story. 

Of special interest are the following observations and recommendations:

4. AHRC [Australian Human Rights Commission] recommended ensuring that Australia’s international human rights obligations are comprehensively incorporated into law.

5. AHRC stated that the Government should reform federal anti-discrimination laws to ensure comprehensive protection and improve effectiveness. The Government should also set a timetable for achieving reform of the Constitution to remove capacity for racial discrimination.

6. Racial discrimination was present in society, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. AHRC was concerned about the increase in severe Islamophobic attacks, far-right extremism, and increased racism experienced by people of Asian background during the COVID-19 pandemic and cyber racism.

7. Age discrimination was a major barrier to the participation of old persons in the labour force. Older women were the fastest growing cohort of homeless in 2011–2016.

8. AHRC was concerned about involuntary surgery on people born with variations in sex characteristics, especially infants.

9. The Governments should abolish mandatory sentencing laws and expand the use of non-custodial measures where appropriate.

10. The Governments should raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years, and prohibit the use of isolation and force as punishment in juvenile justice facilities.

11. National security laws and law enforcement powers on metadata retention and encryption, unjustifiably limited freedom of expression and privacy, especially for journalists and whistleblowers. Government should amend national security laws so that they do not unduly limit human rights, particularly freedom of expression and the right to privacy.

12. Some state and territory laws unduly restricted the right of peaceful assembly. Governments should ensure that all laws that regulate protest activity are consistent with the right of peaceful assembly.

13. AHRC recommended ensuring that restrictions enacted to combat the COVID-19 pandemic are proportionate and are removed as soon as the public emergency is over.

14. The main income support payment for unemployed Australians ‘JobSeeker Allowance’ was inadequate. AHRC expressed concerns at punitive welfare programs, notably the ‘ParentsNext’ ‘pre-employment’ program and compulsory income management schemes that disproportionately affected indigenous peoples. Government should ensure that JobSeeker Allowance payments provide recipients with an adequate standard of living, that Welfare support programs be reformed so they are not punitive, and that current models of income management be discontinued or redesigned as voluntary, opt-in schemes that are used as a ‘last resort’.

15. The Government should expand human rights education in all areas of the public sector, particularly for those working with children and in the administration of justice and places of detention, and incorporate human rights more fully in the national school curriculum.

16. The gender pay gap was 14 percent, contributing to the significant gap in retirement savings for women. Government should implement targeted strategies to close the gender pay gap and ensure women’s economic security later in life.

17. AHCR noted that domestic and family violence against women remained endemic. The Government should increase prevention and early intervention initiatives on domestic and family violence.

18. Rates of children in out-of-home care increased, with Indigenous children significantly over-represented. Governments should prioritise early intervention programs to prevent children entering child protection systems.

19. The National Disability Strategy 2010–2020 remained underfunded, with key commitments not achieved. There was limited progress in addressing the sterilisation of persons with disabilities without consent, and implementing a nationally consistent supported decision-making framework. Rates of labour force participation of persons with disabilities had not improved. Little progress were made in addressing the indefinite detention of persons with disabilities who were assessed as unfit to stand trial or not guilty by reason of mental impairment.

20. The Closing the Gap strategy aimed to ‘close the gap’ between Indigenous and nonIndigenous Australians across a range of life outcomes. In 2020, two of the seven targets-early childhood education and Year 12 attainment - were on track to be met by 2031. Other areas such as employment and school attendance had not seen improvements, and the life expectancy gap persisted.

21. AHRC recommended ensuring that immigration detention is justified, time limited, and subject to prompt and regular judicial oversight. Government should reduce numbers of people held in immigration detention to maintain safety during COVID-19 pandemic. Government should amend the Migration Act 1958 to prohibit placing children in immigration detention.

22. AHCR recommended conducting refugee status determination consistently with international obligations, and providing permanent protection for refugees and family sponsorship. Government should provide sufficient support to asylum seekers to ensure an adequate standard of living.

The Summary of Stakeholders' Submissions on Australia also noted:

63. JS1 explained that cashless debit and income management schemes expanded in recent years despite their discriminatory impact on indigenous peoples and single mothers, their restriction on individual decision making, and weak evidence of effectiveness. SHRL explained that the Community Development Program required welfare recipients in remote communities to undertake work or training in order to access social security payments, with indigenous peoples heavily overrepresented in the program and in financial penalties resulting from non-compliance, further plunging them into poverty. JS1 stated that Australia must replace compulsory cashless debit and income management schemes with voluntary models which are non-discriminatory in design and implementation.

The final United Nations Human Rights Council review report is yet to be published. Its findings are unlikely to overly complimentary, given on 20 January 2021 so many other member nations voiced their concerns about Australia's human rights record.

Why am I not surprised by a report of another dangerous blunder by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison & Co?

The Age, 22 January 2021:

Some of the masks distributed to hospitals and aged care homes at the height of the pandemic as part of the federal government's national medical stockpile have been judged defective by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Laboratory testing by Australia’s medical regulator identified a range of issues with some disposable surgical masks branded Softmed and imported by M House.

The issues include quality control, lack of proper labelling, and inconsistent fluid resistance between batches. Fluid resistance is vital for medical masks, as fluid droplets generated by coughing and sneezing have been found to spread COVID-19.

A Kirby Institute study, published in November, estimated Australian healthcare workers were nearly three times more likely to become infected with coronavirus than other Australians. More than 3560 healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19 in Victoria. Nearly three-quarters of them caught the virus at work.

At the peak of the state's second wave of infections in early August, so many staff were off sick or isolating from the Royal Melbourne Hospital that the facility was forced to temporarily close four of its wards…...

"Based on the results of internal and external accredited laboratory testing, M House is very confident that its products supplied during the height of the pandemic do not pose a risk to frontline workers but in fact protect them," the spokeswoman said.

“M House genuinely believes that, at best, the TGA has conducted itself incompetently in relation to the testing of the device and, at worst, has acted and continues to act in bad faith towards M House, in respect of which M House has reserved its rights and, if necessary, will prosecute them to the full extent necessary, including to obtain the removal of the alert notice which it genuinely believes is unjustified.”

The TGA issued a product defect alert for the disposable surgical masks in November and the Health Department has since written to aged care homes, healthcare networks, the National Disability Insurance Scheme and state and territory health authorities, warning about the defective batches.

The TGA has been running its own lab tests on masks, with priority given to the millions of masks on Australia’s national medical stockpile. Of the first 25 results released, seven had problems identified.

A spokeswoman for the TGA said: "A strong precautionary approach was taken by issuing a Product Defect Alert notice on 14 November 2020 for the relevant Softmed branded surgical masks, sponsored by M House, to ensure customers who purchase or are supplied with these masks safeguard healthcare workers if the masks are being used in high-risk settings,"

Andrew Hewat, Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association assistant secretary, said: “Any concerns in terms of the level of safety, the standards that are being applied, raises concerns for our members…..[my yellow highlighting]