Page 918 - Week 03 - Thursday, 10 March 2016
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Again, I had lots of complaints from people who said they thought they would give it a shot. They turned up; they took their cups of tea. It was time for a chat. They got spoken to. They do not feel that they were listened to, and they do not believe that there is any strategy or reform in the strategic reform agenda.
On the top of page 5, the minister says:
It is worth noting Madam Speaker that ACTAS has been able to achieve this outstanding performance in a time of record demand for ambulance services here in the ACT.
Yes, it has, despite the government, and despite the strategic reform agenda. It is done on the backs and the hard work of the front-line paramedics. They are to be congratulated on the difficult circumstances in which they have done this job.
It goes on to say:
The continued strong response performance by ACTAS clearly demonstrates that the community should continue to have full confidence …
They should. The community should have full confidence in the people that arrive at their door. What they should have no confidence in is the senior management and the minister.
There is much additional pressure on officers because of the toxic culture that led to this, and we have this glib line from the minister that we have substantially reformed everything and therefore everything is probably hunky-dory.
He goes on to say:
The ESA, as a unified agency, is wholly committed …
I do not believe that the ESA is a unified agency. I think there is an agenda where some would like to see it as one agency, one service under one controller. I spoke to a number of ambulance officers this morning to see whether they believed anything in this document. They just laughed and one of them said, “If they want a unified service, which seems to be their objective, just put us all into white shirts and blue trousers and we will all look like a unified service.” But it never will be, and it never should be.
These organisations provide different sorts of services with different sorts of experience. What we see is officers being slid around so that senior management can maintain control, instead of proper processes to ensure that we have the best people. Maybe the people who are put in there will end up being the best people, but it is unclear because there has never been a process. The debacle of the SES, the problem of the senior SES officer, is apparent. I have heard grumblings that people were asked and then a very poor process was followed for the appointment to the acting head of the Rural Fire Service. This is to the minister’s shame. To stand here and say that things are good is just having your head in the sand.
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