Page 4282 - Week 13 - Thursday, 19 November 2015
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That was just the Ambulance Service, Mr Assistant Speaker. I know of cases of three or four individuals where someone was suspended from work on claims of disciplinary matters that were not resolved for 70 or 80 weeks. That is just appalling in this day and age. The adage that justice delayed is justice denied is very true and has left a number of individuals damaged. Indeed a number of individuals simply gave up and left the service. One can only surmise that that was the approach taken by management. I am not going to judge whatever the allegations were that led to the disciplinary action, but surely it is not beyond the ability of these people in charge of the ACT Ambulance Service to get to the bottom of these issues. And if they are lasting for this long, what is wrong with the system?
That is just the Ambulance Service. Let us look at the ACT Fire & Rescue Service, which allowed a bullying, sexist and misogynistic culture to exist. We had the allegation of a firefighter taking illegal photos, inappropriate photos, of a female work colleague. My understanding is that he went off on stress leave and he got compensation as he left the service. You commit the crime and you get paid to go away. I suspect that it has left a very bad taste in the mouths of the majority of firefighters in that it was so clouded—because of government obfuscation and refusal to release reports—that people feel very bitter.
We then had issues concerning the deployment of the Bronto during the Sydney Building fire. Did the commissioner tell somebody to move it or not? Did the station officer tell the commissioner to go away? People have told me that it happened for sure; the minister keeps denying it. How can you have a good staff culture when that lack of basic trust exists? There are still concerns regarding the integration of the four ESA organisational components, the incomplete enterprise bargaining arrangements for ESA staff, concerns over the centralisation of the ESA commissioner’s power, and the extra layer of bureaucracy.
Staff are looking for extra assistance on the front line. Staff are looking for resolution for things like proper medical training, because Fire & Rescue have often responded when there is not an ambulance. They respond to mental health cases occasionally. Other jurisdictions get training and an allowance for it, but not in the ACT.
Again it is about the work culture. We have a government interested in their legacy and their glory projects, but not actually in delivering more front-line services for taxpayers, ensuring that particularly the front-line officers have a workplace that allows them to do their job properly. Particularly for those in contact directly with the public, whether it be nurses in the emergency department, whether it be firefighters, whether it be ambulance paramedics, they should have a safe environment in which they can operate. The shame here is that nothing seems to get better. When we look at the CIT, for instance, there were 42 cases of bullying in the CIT that were supposedly thoroughly and independently investigated, but none was proven, even though Comcare felt that the case was strong enough to make compensation.
So there is a real question there about the processes that this government runs. The ACT government is meant to be the model litigant in the sense of a court case. Why can’t they be the model employer and make sure that these issues are dealt with, that
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