Page 4814 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 27 November 2018
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hiding and shifting the debate. He now has chosen to do away with this minimum crewing requirement as we know it. The government’s mantra seems to be: “If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success, shift the goalposts high and find a way of not answering any future questions.” How dare the opposition actually hold you to account! How dare the opposition! Rather than face the music and put more effort into resolving the issues facing ACTAS, the minister has opted for the easy route: one round of recruitment and 23 additional staff. That may or may not fix the problems; we will probably never know.
The minister claims to be concerned for the health and wellbeing of our paramedics. Where was he when they were doing thousands of hours of overtime, attempting to fill the drastic shortfall in crewing levels? Where was he, this Labor minister who is meant to stand up for the workers, for the workforce, for those who cannot make determinations about how their system is run. It is ironic, isn’t it? The Liberal shadow minister now has to work hard to protect workers from a Labor minister who does not care about the level of staffing until it becomes a political issue. Where was the minister when the system was absolutely reliant on overtime? It still could be; we will not know. It is very difficult to know without the minimum crewing level.
Overworked staff are being asked to do more and more. Until I raised it, nobody seemed to care. The government claim that they are behind this workforce. But their actions show that they are only behind their own maintenance of power. This change to do away with the measure of minimum crewing has no justification. Nothing in the minister’s statement has justified either the removal of the minimum crewing level or its replacement, about which there are no details in the minister’s statement. It is a very strong sign that the minister does not want to be shown up again. Shame on the minister. Shame on him for caring more about his own reputation than the workers he is here to defend. If he put half as much effort into managing ACTAS better, maybe we would have a properly functioning ACTAS. His mismanagement in this area has been significant. Our ambos and our community deserve better.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Active ageing framework 2015-2018
Ministerial statement
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (11.15): I am pleased to provide members with an update on what has been achieved under the ACT active ageing framework 2015-18. In 2015 the ACT Labor government made a clear statement of our support for older Canberrans. This was in recognition of the importance to this city of our population aged 65 years and over. We had a vision for those senior Canberrans. We wanted them to lead active, healthy and rewarding lives as valued members of our community. We developed the ACT active ageing framework in consultation with the community to provide guidance to ACT government agencies in order to achieve this vision.
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