Page 973 - Week 04 - Thursday, 7 May 2020
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MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I will take that question on notice and come back to Mr Wall with some more detail. I think he would understand that during March there were a lot of pressures across our entire health system, and that does include the digital services division within the ACT Health Directorate, who pull together the information for the quarterly performance report, which is obviously a big piece of work, as well as Canberra Health Services and Calvary, who provide that data to the digital services division.
One of the great things that DSD have been focused on is providing improved telehealth services for our outpatients. That piece of work has been delivered quickly and with priority, as part of our broad-ranging response to COVID-19. I commend them for that piece of work, and I rededicate and commit myself to ongoing transparency in terms of the quarterly performance reports.
MRS JONES: Minister, what action will you take to get reporting in a timely fashion back on track for the next quarter?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I think we all understand, as I have said, that COVID-19 and our response to it has had an impact right across the ACT Health Directorate, Canberra Health Services and Calvary hospital, who all contribute to the development of this report. I have no reason to believe that there will be a delay in future reporting, but I will certainly keep an eye on it.
Emergency services—COVID-19
MR COE: My question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, do all frontline staff in the ACT public service who are at risk of exposure to COVID-19 have agreements with their employee representatives and the territory regarding safe work?
MR BARR: Thank you. Yes, through the various representative bodies for the different areas of ACT government employment, under their enterprise bargaining arrangements all areas of government either have instituted work from home provisions that sit within the EBA or, indeed, have managed changes in their workplace to respond to the COVID pandemic.
MR COE: Chief Minister, do all the EBAs account for such a situation or have additional agreements or additional text needed to be determined in order to make a decision about when staff can return to work or return to normal duties?
MR BARR: I will need to take that on notice. I am not across all EBAs. We are the most diverse employer in Australia, with our state and local government responsibilities and the variety of occupations that we employ. I do not think there is another employer in Australia that is as diverse as the ACT government. We have a core agreement that contains a range of measures to support flexible work arrangements, but I will take the detail of the member’s question on notice.
MR WALL: Chief Minister, what direct negotiation with in-school teachers, in-hospital nurses and Transport and City Services public-facing staff was done to
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