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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 2 Hansard (27 February) . . Page.. 323 ..

MR MOORE: Strengthening the nursing work force is a fantastic initiative of the ACT government. This government, in the middle of an EBA, said, "To make sure that our nurses are the nurses who have the highest pay in Australia and remain the highest paid in Australia, apart from the extra superannuation conditions they have that are better than anywhere else in Australia, and better conditions in a whole range of other ways, we are prepared to put in a significant sum of money." In return for that, we are going to ask for some conditions.

Now, this could not be exactly even because the nurses federation has said for many years, certainly since I became minister, "What we want is the same pay and conditions right across the nursing work force in the ACT because we want to have a single agreement." I said, "No, you are not going to get that because that is not government policy."

Mr Quinlan: Why not?

MR MOORE: You can have that as your policy. When we introduced strengthening the work force we said, "What we will do is make a compromise for you. We will get equal pay for you. We are prepared to go for equal pay right across the work force and we will do that by ensuring an 11.7 per cent increase to the nursing work force." Getting that equal pay meant that the increase for Calvary nurses was just a tad higher than the increase for the nurses at the Canberra Hospital. There is the first difference. That, of course, was an important difference. It was what the federation had been asking for-equivalent pay across the system.

We also said, "Look, this is not exactly 12 per cent. It is roughly 12 per cent, but there are ups and downs. We will use 12 per cent as a rule of thumb, if you like." For example, the night shift nurses get an extra 7.5 per cent on top of the 11.7 per cent. So night shift nurses are going to get a significant increase, over 18 per cent. We said there are particular special bonuses for nurses working in areas of special need, and that would take some to 11.7 per cent and well beyond. So, Mr Speaker, there were some differences like that.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the terrible differences in rostering flexibility clauses between the Calvary Hospital and the Canberra Hospital. What we are talking about in terms of rostering flexibility is something that is voluntary. Nobody is going to force this on anybody because it is written in the agreement that nobody will be forced to do this, but it will allow-

Mr Stanhope: It doesn't say that. It says by a majority.

MR MOORE: Yes, Mr Stanhope, it might suit the majority, but sometimes what suits a particular nurse at a particular time, and suits management, may in fact be better for patient health and health care.

Mr Stanhope: Why differentiate between the hospitals?

MR MOORE: It is good for that particular nurse and some other nurses might-

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