Coronavirus help needed for casual workers: Barr

According to Unions ACT, around 65,000 workers in the ACT are casual or in the gig economy, but the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates around 45,000 people employed in Canberra don't have leave entitlements.

"I think the important point to observe is there are a lot of people who don't have sick leave under their casual or gig economy work arrangements," Mr Barr said.

"So the Commonwealth package really does need to address that section of the community."

Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter said the government would consider whether existing safety nets were enough for people who were directed to stay at home or can't work because they were sick with the virus.

Mr Porter backed away from calls for the government to support casual workers who lose shifts because they need to self-isolate, saying those workers were already paid extra to make up for missing out on entitlements like sick leave.

"We will also be looking to do what we can to make sure that people are sufficiently taken care of if they are either directed to stay at home or can't turn up to work because they're sick," Mr Porter said on ABC News on Tuesday.

"There are already obviously a range of safety nets in place inside the fair work system and our industrial relations system and the welfare system. What we're looking at now is to see where they may not be sufficient for short periods of time."

The minister didn't elaborate on what that assistance could look like, but said business and unions were assisting the government in working out all the different ways in which workers may need to miss work, and what assistance would be appropriate.

The federal opposition and unions have called for support for casual workers who need to self-isolate, but Mr Porter said casual workers got extra loading to make up for the absence of sick leave and would have made provisions for missing shifts.

"How that may play out in a pandemic situation is what we're trying to understand as a matter of predictions, data and experience and if and when there needs to be response, we will make sure it is tailored and scaled."

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It was revealed on the weekend that a hotel worker in Hobart had returned to work despite being told to self-isolate while waiting for the results of the swab test for coronavirus, but Mr Porter said he didn't believe workers would endanger their colleagues by turning up to work while sick.

Unions ACT secretary Alex White said a third of the workforce in the ACT didn't have sick leave entitlements, and the effect of bushfire smoke on the Canberra economy over summer showed how much people could lose if they weren't able to work.

"We want to make sure that if working people, particularly casuals, stay home to self-isolate, they don't choose between starving and doing the right thing."

Most casual workers don't have large savings, Mr White said, arguing the government should follow the lead of the United Kingdom, where the government is offering to pay for sick leave to ensure people stay home when they need to.