Page 229 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 1991
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I will just run down through the list. Calwell station was closed on 2 January, 26 January, 28 January, 29 January and 4 February. Belconnen was closed on 8 January; it was also closed on 21 January. Woden was closed on 18 January and 22 January. Dickson was closed on 30 January, 1 February and 3 February. On 18 January, when the Woden station was closed, it was closed for 24 hours. That is unbelievable - especially when the Minister has consistently maintained that although the Ambulance Service was operating under pressure it could cope. That simply is not true. It cannot cope unless it has four fully staffed stations, and even then it is under pressure; because we know that on at least one occasion in January the service could not respond immediately to a priority one case. There was a significant delay before the Ambulance Service was able to respond to that case. Who knows how often that has occurred since the Minister gave an indication that things would improve?
The Minister has agreed to put on an extra seven staff. "Why?", I ask, if there were already enough in the first place and everything was hunky-dory. The need was clear; the service was not up to speed. I ask this question of the Minister: If there are enough staff, why are they still doing so much overtime? And why has there been significant long-term sick leave amongst those officers as a result of that overtime and the heavy pressures which are being imposed on workers in the Ambulance Service?
We know that there are about seven officers on long-term sick leave. I am told that the majority of them are off on stress related leave. If that is so - and there is no reason to believe that it is not - the indications are that the pressure that has been imposed on Ambulance Service workers has been so much as to reduce them to a stage where they can no longer work under it. That is understandable, because it is a difficult job; but it is made more difficult by a Minister who will not provide them with the back-up staff to ensure that they can do their job efficiently and without the risk of injury to themselves.
Where are these seven new staff that were promised? Nowhere have the advertisements been placed for the new positions; they have not been placed yet - over three months later. What about the agreement with the Transport Workers Union? Where are the staff arising from that agreement?
Mr Humphries: They have not arisen yet.
MR BERRY: Of course they have not arisen. Sufficient staff have not been placed, and that is what needs to be done, because you cannot staff ambulance stations without staff. That is what this Minister is trying to do by sleight of hand - pretend that everything is all right. But you cannot do it if you have not got the staff. The evidence is there; stations are closed and people are missing out on the service.
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