Big businesses and the union representing Australia’s most at-risk workers want isolation rules for COVID close contacts to be urgently scrapped as the nation struggles with a skills shortage exacerbated by an absent workforce.
“It’s really time to let people responsibly manage their own health situation,” Hayes said. “If you are fully vaxxed, return a negative test and have no symptoms, you should be able to go to work.” Some states already have an extensive list of exemptions for various types of workers in place, due to strains on services and the economy.
But Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said the states and territories needed to move together, saying he believed there was nothing in the federal caretaker provisions preventing national cabinet from being called.