20 April 2022

First: “Scott Morrison is defending his record on protecting manufacturing jobs after a factory he visited conceded within 24 hours it is sacking Australian workers and outsourcing work overseas. Mr Morrison on Tuesday visited a Rheem Australia facility in Parramatta, spruiking an election commitment to create 1.3 million jobs within five years. But Rheem later confirmed there would be job losses at the same factory, after a restructure to shift some operations to the company’s Vietnam site.”

And then: “The industrial relations watchdog will investigate claims Perth shipbuilder Austal paid 30 Filipino workers as little as $9 an hour. The company has been accused of exploiting the workers just months after being awarded a $350 million defence contract by the Morrison government. … ETU WA secretary Peter Carter … said the extension of their visas in May also coincided with Austal laying off 30 WA workers, sparking concerns the company may have been seeking to slash its wages bills.” The Fair Work Ombudsman investigated the ETU’s claims and agreed that underpayments had occurred, issuing compliance notices against Austal. But that didn’t stop Morrison using Austal for a campaign photo op.

There seems to be a bit of a pattern forming…