Page 875 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 18 March 2015
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But it does not say a great deal here. We are out of it. Obviously the original report said something compelling, because there is the summary. The summary seems to be totally disconnected from what is written. I am assuming that the summary comes from the original report, because it says:
Dispelling fear and promoting trust within ACTAS is essential to developing a professional future for the service. The acceptance of individual accountability for performance, actions and behaviour is also crucial.
The word “fear” actually does not appear in the document. So the minister is out of it; whoever wrote this is out of it. I wonder if the ESA Commissioner was forced to sign this or if he signed it willingly. Normally when you write about something and you have a summary, the summary is about what you have just written about. The word “fear” does not appear. The text does not support the summary.
Here is a hint: if you are trying to do a bit of a whitewash, at least try to make the text fit the summary. But what do we know? What did the Canberra Times, who got a copy of the report, say about fear and trust? They said:
The O2C report found distrust and fear, common in many ambulance organisations, was “manifest” throughout the ACT Ambulance Service.
That is not mentioned in the minister’s report. So you have to question what this report is really about. Then there is blame and bullying. This is why it is important this report is tabled, members. This is why this report should be made public, and we will get to some of the excuses in a minute. The report states:
Linked to findings 1 and 3, issues of blaming and bullying (alleged or actual) …
Are they? Were there any? Were any found? Were any reported? We do not know, because there is no data or detail. The report continues:
… are widespread features of the ambulance world according to the literature. The review finds ACTAS is no exception.
Okay, there is something there, but, “We’re not going to tell you. We’re not going to tell you how bad, how widespread, how often.” That is all unknown. You would think that a section on blaming and bullying might use the word “bullying”. You would think it might, but the word “bullying” does not appear in the text. Apparently there is no bullying.
But wait, it is the ambulance officers’ fault. The report states:
It was generally found that ACTAS staff were often too focused on themselves (a “me too” focus) …
How dare they! How dare they focus on themselves, minister! That is disgraceful, that the staff would have a focus on themselves. This is what happens when you do not run the service properly. Here we have got a report that in fact is blaming those who were bullied because they do not have the right attitude. This is pathetic in the extreme and it is ridiculous. Let’s go through it:
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