Page 2857 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 17 September 2014
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to be debates about wages, working hours and conditions, but when it is a matter of safety then ministers, be it in health or in the health environment of the jail, need to listen more closely.
Going to some of the detail of what Mrs Jones has raised today, I think she went through the issues extremely well, and the case has been well made. But it is quite clear that the minister has a responsibility to provide a safe working environment. The statistics, which are alarming and which are increasing in terms of the number of assaults and other incidents outlined, make it entirely clear that it is not a safe working environment. With respect to those figures, there have been 57 cases of physical attacks on staff this year, and that is an increase of 10 incidents from the previous year. There have been 13 near misses and 37 incidents of verbal threatening. A total of 135 incidents have been reported. That is why that provisional improvement notice has been issued by Comcare.
It is not going to be an environment that will be without incident. We are not trying to pretend that this is a utopian environment; it is not. The question is: is this government doing enough? Has this minister done enough? I think it is very sad that we are only having action taken on this in a substantive way through a motion in this place because the government has essentially had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this point. Since 2012 there have been incidents, and this situation has been allowed to develop and go on to a point where a PIN has been issued. I think that is disappointing.
What Mrs Jones is asking for is entirely reasonable. I think it is thorough. In her motion she raises all of the relevant points. To water that down is to pay disrespect to those hardworking nurses who really deserve thorough action and the most fulsome response from this government.
The opposition will not be supporting the minister’s amendment, which seeks to water down Mrs Jones’s motion, and I commend Mrs Jones’s motion to the Assembly.
MRS JONES (Molonglo) (5.14): I will deal with the amendment and sum up. I thank all members present for their contributions to this debate. This is a very serious debate; it is a very important debate. I thank Minister Rattenbury for the recommendation that I seek a briefing. Yes, I have sought a briefing. But you should also be very clear that the facts of the PIN and the statements of nurses on their treatment in this unit speak for themselves.
With 49 incidents of physical or abusive assault on nurses in the first year of operation, increasing to 57 incidents in the second year, with 112 overall reports, increasing to 135 reports, I find it amazing that the minister stands here and says there is no evidence that there is an increase in assaults and attacks in the unit.
With more than one physical attack per week, it is not okay. It is not providing a safe working environment. The act states that, in order for a PIN to be placed on a facility, the act has to have been contravened, is being contravened or will continue to be contravened. And this is a real concern for those who are working in the facility.
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