Page 473 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 21 February 2018
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Recruiting to fill normal attrition vacancies is also conducted regularly, with the next intake scheduled for March this year and May this year. I take this opportunity to encourage any people wishing to join ACTAS to apply to become part of our high-performing and highly regarded ambulance service.
The government will not be supporting Mrs Jones’s motion today. The motion passed last week by the Assembly, supported by all parties, covered off the issues I have raised today, namely that despite increased demand our Ambulance Service continues to perform at the highest levels and that this government is providing increased support to ensure this performance does not come at the expense of our paramedics’ wellbeing.
I am satisfied that the government’s actions will assist our ACTAS staff to continue to maintain the highest levels of service delivery in the nation while at the same time supporting the ongoing welfare of its workforce, and I am pleased the Emergency Services Agency will continue to seek the views of the workforce in managing their workloads and overtime arrangements into the future.
The Canberra community can have the highest confidence in the performance of their Ambulance Service, and I would once again like to take this opportunity to thank the Chief Officer, ACTAS, and all ACTAS staff for their continued efforts to care for and protect the Canberra community.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (11.31): This motion does bring with it some feeling of deja vu as just last week we were here debating some very similar issues and I recall that Minister Gentleman undertook to review the issues that Mrs Jones had raised at that time associated with minimum crewing levels. In the debate on the motion the government also agreed to monitor ambulance resources and staffing, as well as the wellbeing of front-line staff.
I think they were important undertakings that the minister gave last week. I was pleased he did that, and I look forward to seeing the outcomes of that work that he has undertaken to do. I would have thought that it would be appropriate to give the minister time to undertake this review and come back with any further information but instead we have another motion today.
As I said last week, I agree with plenty of what Mrs Jones says in relation to the value of our Ambulance Service. I acknowledge and am grateful for the hard work and commitment of our staff who are doing a tough but critically important job with great dedication. I also have no disagreement with Mrs Jones’s identifying that the minimum crewing levels metric is not being met a fair proportion of the time. It was a statement of fact. This issue will be responded to through the review that Minister Gentleman has agreed to undertake and I look forward to seeing the outcome of that work.
I acknowledge that in this week’s motion Mrs Jones has also identified that ACTAS officers are working overtime shifts and has raised concerns about the levels of overtime being worked. What is not clear from the motion is the reason for this
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