Page 2823 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 14 August 2018
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As the shadow minister, the single most disturbing fact that comes before me every day, day after day, is the entrenched and toxic culture that is the ACT’s health system. Two weeks ago, in proposing the establishment of a board of inquiry into the culture in the ACT health system, I spoke about this at length, including the story of a former worker in ACT Health whom I called Charlie. Charlie’s is not the only story; there are many others.
Tomorrow in this place I will propose a motion that goes specifically to the culture in the medical imaging department of Canberra Hospital. The toxic culture of ACT Health is incarnate in the medical imaging department. Two weeks ago the Labor-Greens coalition government had the opportunity to diagnose a culture that has unhappy, bullied, overworked and poorly supported staff. Two weeks ago this ACT Labor-Greens coalition had the opportunity to diagnose the impact of this culture on patient care and safety. Two weeks ago this ACT Labor-Greens coalition had the opportunity to diagnose the issues that make the ACT’s health system the heaviest burden on ACT taxpayers compared to those in any other jurisdiction in Australia.
But how did they respond? Minister Fitzharris and the Labor Party said it was a political stunt. I could not put a response to that more succinctly than did a correspondent to the Canberra Times last Friday, who said, “Of course she would. She would say that, wouldn’t she?”
Mr Barr and Labor said it would cost tens of millions of dollars. He sought to compare the scope of an ACT-focused board of inquiry with national royal commissions and in doing so misjudged the situation entirely by telling the 7,000 ACT Health staff that they did not matter and that it was not important to spend money on fixing their culture. If the cost of an ACT board of inquiry were to be comparable with a national royal commission into trade unions or the financial services sector, it would do little more than corroborate the sheer magnitude of the problem in just one small jurisdiction.
Mr Rattenbury and the Greens said it was unnecessary because we have safe and respectful pathways available for dealing with bullying. It is a pity that those pathways are mythological. Indeed, Mr Rattenbury remarked to me after the debate two weeks ago that he did not know about the sorts of issues that I had raised. Even worse than the patronising and insulting tone of his remarks on this day, Mr Rattenbury later admitted that he was uninformed. Once again, Mr Rattenbury was prepared to make decisions based not on evidence but on going with his Labor mates.
Without giving Mr Rattenbury any comfort, I am told that staff were instructed not to speak with ministers when they visit our health facilities. I am told staff are instructed to keep their distance and that ministers are surrounded by a kind of executive security crush. God forbid that any real information might find its way into a minister’s ear. God forbid that a minister might hear the truth about what is really happening in the ACT health system.
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