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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 11 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 3371 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

Mr Berry talks about hundreds of nurses storming the office of the CEO. First of all, let me say that I think it is entirely inappropriate for people to act in that way and storm the office of the CEO. However, let me tell you what actually happened this morning during that period. The Nursing Federation called on all nurses to strike. They asked for all nurses to walk out, leaving no skeleton staff. How many did? Of the 200-odd nurses who were on duty at the time they were asked to do so, at 9 o'clock this morning, just over 50 of them said that they were going to leave their post. It seems to me that the nurses recognised a series of things. The first thing they recognised was that to leave patients without care was just inappropriate. It is a shame that the federation did not have the same view.

Mr Berry: Your arrogance is causing this, Michael.

MR MOORE: No, Mr Berry, it is not my arrogance that has caused it at all. The industrial relations commissioner, in her strong recommendation, said that we should make sure that we carry out what was required of the current EBA, that is, that we do a comparison in salaries before we get to the point where the agreement is certified. Mr Berry, we will do so. The hospital, on that recommendation, immediately invited the Nursing Federation to join it as equal partners in carrying out that task. The hospital immediately invited them. But the Nursing Federation has a different agenda. Their agenda is to stop a ballot. They do not want to have a free, secret ballot. Mr Berry, coming from the Left of the Labor Party, might not understand the benefits of having a secret ballot; in fact, he probably thinks that there are incredible disbenefits to having a secret ballot, and I am sure that he does. But what they seek to prevent is a secret ballot of staff at the hospital.

Mr Stanhope: Don't you like nurses?

MR MOORE: In fact, I wrote to Colleen Duff on this very issue. I said:

The issue upon which the Commissioner based her strong recommendation that the ballot not proceed - the failure of parties to the current nursing agreement to review market rates of pay - appears to have been resolved by Mr Johnston's announcement that such a review will take place prior to next year's salary negotiation phase. I urge the Federation to participate fully in that very useful exercise.

Mr Berry: Weasel words; inflammatory weasel words.

MR MOORE: On the contrary, Mr Berry. Mr Stanhope interjected earlier, "Don't you like nurses?". I like nurses very much. Let me say that they do a fantastic job. That is why, Mr Speaker, I trust the nurses to make their own decision, to do it in secret ballot and come out with a decision on whether they want to go down the path of an enterprise bargaining agreement which provides them immediately with an increase in their salary in the order of 10 per cent and provides a framework for a further salary increase.

Some misinformation has been put around about this issue, saying, "This is the end of the deal. This is what you get and that is the end of it". It is not. That is how it works. That is what we are telling the nurses. That is what the hospital is telling the nurses.

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