Page 3483 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 22 August 2018
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release the data and then misuse the public service, it goes to the ethics of this government.
The FOI documents show that, contrary to the minister’s claims in the media, at no point did the minister’s office seek to ensure the accuracy of the data. It was untrue. That claim that was made. The minister did not express concerns over the accuracy of the data. All he wanted to do was put his spin on it.
The ACT Ambulance Service is made up of many good men and women who work very hard for our community. They are generous, they are professional and they have a steadfast dedication to this city. And we in the Canberra Liberals respect them and we are grateful for what they do for our city. It is a shame then that they are not properly resourced, it is a shame that they are not backed up by the minister and it is a shame that the minister who is supposedly responsible for delivering the service is actually more interested in spin than he is in minimum crewing levels.
Unlike the minister, who refuses to listen to the needs of our front-line workers, the Canberra Liberals continue to engage with the community, including the ambos. We continue to hear from the overworked men and women in emergency services whom this government ignores. Just the other day we received this message from a paramedic:
Property is clearly more important than the lives of your loved ones. There are just eight ambulance stations, but nine fire stations. As an ambo, I know full well that the ACT Ambulance Service attends 300% more cases than the ACT Fire Brigade. Officers are fatigued, often go hungry on a 10 or 14 hour shift, have little time to rehydrate and are not supported by management. Would you like to have a Paramedic attend your child or significant other, when they have worked the last 13 hours non-stop?
That is a quote that a paramedic sent to us. The government may dismiss this. The government will put more spin on top of the spin, on top of the other eight variations. But when you have an ambo writing that to the opposition it shows that the concern is real. This is only one piece of feedback that we have received. We have heard from other ambos who are outraged that the minister would suggest doing away with minimum crewing levels or for referring to the minimum crewing level as an arbitrary figure. Does the minister truly think that requiring a certain level of care for our community is simply an arbitrary figure? It would be interesting to know what the Chief Ambulance Officer would have to say about that.
To the men and women of the Ambulance Service and to all the front-line workers in the ACT, let me tell you categorically that you deserve better than what you are getting from this government. You should be properly resourced. There should be an appropriate number of ambulance stations. There should be minimum crew levels and you should be backed up by your minister.
At 6 pm, in accordance with standing order 34, the debate was interrupted. The motion for the adjournment of the Assembly having been put and negatived, the debate was resumed.
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