International Nurses Day

Ms COOK (Fisher) (11:57): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises International Nurses Day celebrated annually on 12 May;

(b) acknowledges this year's theme, 'Nurses: a force for change: improving health systems' resilience'; and

(c) congratulates South Australian nurses for their dedication and professionalism and the pivotal role they play in the advancement of all South Australians' health.

In opening, I thank the opposition for its bipartisan cooperation in moving the motion. Today it is my privilege to lead the celebration of International Nurses Day. It is celebrated annually on 12 May, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birthday. I welcome to parliament some very special guests—my nursing colleagues. I am honoured to represent them here in this place. We have wonderful representation here today from across metropolitan and rural South Australia, from clinical practice, academic worlds, leadership, administration, research and even some very special projects. Welcome.

Nursing is indeed very diverse and it can and does take you anywhere. The member for Elder in this place, the Hon. Gail Gago in the other place and I are living proof of that. The focus for International Nurses Day 2016 is 'A force for change: improving health systems' resilience'. It is an incredibly appropriate theme, particularly here in South Australia as our nurses lead some of the biggest changes in the structure and delivery of health care in the modern era.

These healthcare improvements under the banner of Transforming Health are not new or out of the box. We have been working towards this for as many years as I have been nursing and longer—shall we just say in the 1980s sometime. We have worked through lean thinking principles, diagnostic related groups of care and funding models, clinical pathways, and of course Redesigning Care (who can forget it?), just to name a few.

All were undertaken with a view to reduce length of stay, reduce patient complications, improve outcomes, improve efficiency, achieve and set new benchmarks, drive best practice and so on. These changes have all been successful in their own way. They have been dynamic, they have responded to need and they have addressed point of time challenges. What we now need is sustainable transformation.

All of this is the language of health care. It is what my colleagues and the colleagues in the gallery are confident and comfortable with. They are nursing words. If I use this language now, in public as a politician, outside of speaking to you in here, I am accused of using spin. If only they knew the language we used as nurses that is commonplace. The rest of the world really is just catching up with nurse-led transformation of healthcare systems, and they are unsure, nervous, and lack confidence. Nurses must take the lead because we have all been there before; this is our daily journey.

Nurses can strengthen and develop resilience within themselves and their colleagues by contributing their expertise and creativity, improving organisational resilience and commitment in a time of healthcare transformation. Transforming Health nurses were engaged early in the preliminary stages. This was no surprise to nurses; it commenced in mid-2014. A ministerial clinical advisory committee for nursing was established and comprised more than 20 nurses representing all local health networks and all categories of care, including emergency, elective surgery, numerous clinical specialties, and women's and children's care.

The original ministerial and clinical advisory committee, including nursing, was instrumental in coordinating and conducting a comprehensive review of SA Health systems data, identifying the areas of poor performance and developing new clinical standards of care for our hospital services. This is what Transforming Health is based on. The nurses came with recommendations which ensure that South Australians have access to the right care, first time, every time. It is becoming common language, it is a cliché, but we need to think it, we need to live it, we need to learn it. We are very good at acronyms like the MCAG, but it makes it a lot easier to speak to, so I will continue to use it as an MCAG now.

We also had discrete expert working groups. The MCAG is established to identify the priority clinical areas for the health system and to provide leadership in the establishment of quality principles, standards of care, productivity improvements identified in Transforming Health, and to ultimately deliver the change. Therefore, it is fitting that the chief nurse and midwifery officer is a key member of this group.

Expert work groups are currently developing the discrete MCAG-identified projects, such as stroke, acute low-risk chest pain, fragility fracture, 24-hour senior cover, seven-day allied health, rehabilitation, and paediatric governance. No, the minister is not making all of this up himself. He does not lie in bed at night awake dreaming up different systems of care. This is created by experts: expert clinicians within our health system. By the minister's own admission, he is barely qualified to put on a bandaid. These changes are evidence based, recommended and driven by nurses—by you.

Nursing leaders within SA Health are ensuring that the voice of nursing is heard during the major model of care redesign projects which are committed to improving health care for all Australians. Transforming Health relies on innovative practice models which depend on nurses and midwives using and working to the full scope of their roles. This can only be achieved through the establishment of advanced practice roles—vital in Transforming Health.

The Minister for Health recently announced the opportunity for nurses and midwives to become Transforming Health nursing and midwifery ambassadors. There will be ambassador roles for each of the Southern, Northern and Central Local Health Networks, and some of those ambassadors might actually be in the audience today. Key responsibilities will include professional leadership, talking to staff about change, and providing opportunities for nurses and midwives to become involved in the Transforming Health process.

Nurses make fantastic leaders. A nurse leader with a passion for client-centred care has led Central Adelaide Rehabilitation Services to become Australia's first Best Practice Spotlight Organisation. We should be so proud of that. For example, since the implementation of the restraint guidelines at Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre only one person has had a restraint applied in the past three years. That is amazing. I worked in rehab for nearly 10 years and I cannot imagine the change that this has made to the patients and to their families. It is incredible.

I was thrilled to attend the Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards gala dinner on 6 May. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of South Australian nurses, and I will read to that this afternoon as well. The opening of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is eagerly anticipated. It will be a state-of-the-art and purpose-built public hospital. Our skilled and experienced nursing staff will continue to drive person-centred care, lead innovation, and inspire others with their passion and commitment.

We have so many nurses with so many amazing achievements that help to strengthen our resilience. They are celebrated amongst our profession, and we must always be alert to challenges and threats to our resilience—there are many. An ever-present threat is violence. Having lost my son to violence, I know only too well the serious and everlasting effects it can have in the community. It can be so devastating in the workplace also. We are seeing an increasing level of violence against nurses, midwives and other healthcare professionals, and we have to respond.

SA Health has done a great job of pulling together the Challenging Behaviour policy framework. There are some really practical resources available to clinicians and managers for use in prevention and in response but much more can and should be done. There has been a lot of success following the public campaign asking people to keep their hands off our ambos. I look forward to seeing more work supporting similar practical solutions to protect our nurses.

Gayle Woodford paid the ultimate price with her life in March this year. She gave her heart and soul to the people in her community to help people as a single-nurse responder in the remote Far North. Some people in this house today may have known Gayle. The safety of single-nurse responders must be assured, and it must be a bipartisan approach between federal and state government agencies. We have to work together to ensure that this is the only time that this happens. The community needs this, nurses need this, and it must happen for Gayle.

I am so proud to be a nurse. Nurses have been named in the most trusted professions for many years but again this year, of course for very good reason. I am not quite sure why I and my other parliamentary colleagues have taken this career leap down the ladder to sit in between journalists and car salesmen, so maybe we will just continue to say we are actually nurses and we work on North Terrace. I say that jokingly to many of my friends.

We are going through incredible change with many people challenging and doubting the direction we are taking. The people whom the changes affect directly and most intimately to the largest degree will of course be the ones who are most fearful and often will oppose these changes the most forcibly. We must listen, support, engage and respond.

Ours is one of the most progressive and innovative of careers. Change is constant. We drive change every day we go to work. We have a culture of friendship, comradery, sisterhood and solidarity, and it is second to none. In this place, in the shadows of many images of great women, great trailblazing political women of choice and progressive causes, with my colleagues I give thanks to the many nurses in our community and commit our support of your work.

I am proud to lead celebrations today with so many of you. I, along with my parliamentary colleagues, am proud to represent you. You are the most resilient of all workforces. Never question your courage. You are the force for change. Happy belated International Nurses Day to all of my amazing nursing colleagues, and happy birthday, Florence.

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (12:07): This is a very good motion, but I think it can be improved, so I seek leave to amend the motion to insert after paragraph (c):

(d) instructs the Parliamentary Committee on Occupational Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation to inquire into and report on measures to address and prevent occupational violence against nurses and other health workers.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am advised that is really probably a separate motion, in that it is outside the theme we have in the motion before us. It would need to be a separate motion altogether, which is procedural.

Dr McFETRIDGE: I will go on the word of the member for Fisher that this already has been done. To my knowledge, it has not been done; it needs to be done so, in the spirit of bipartisanship, we will support our nurses in any way we possibly can, whether it is in this motion or in another referral.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Are you just going to speak to the original motion then?

Dr McFETRIDGE: I will speak to the original motion, thank you, Deputy Speaker, because it is a very good motion.

The Hon. S.W. KEY: I was going to make a point of order, Deputy Speaker, because, as the Presiding Member of the Parliamentary Committee on Occupational Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation, I can tell you that our inquiry into violence in the workplace, particularly in the health industry, was part of our brief in previous times. We can certainly add to that inquiry should members decide to move a separate motion, but this is something that was brought to the attention of our committee probably a couple of years ago. This is an issue that we took a lot of evidence on and took very seriously. As has already been directed by you, if there is a separate motion, I am sure our committee, which the member for Fisher serves on, will accept that motion.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Ashford. So the member for Morphett is going to speak to the original motion.

Dr McFETRIDGE: Thank you, Deputy Speaker. For the record, in the interim report of the member for Ashford's committee, I do not see that in the terms of reference. However, as all of us in this place are very careful about ensuring that our health workers, and particularly nurses, are given the levels of protection they need, I will take it on trust that the committee will look into that.

This is a very good motion. We must at all times recognise our nurses and the work they do. In fact, on this side the member for Finniss's wife is a nurse, the member for Stuart's wife is a nurse, the member for Mitchell's wife is a nurse, the member for Flinders' wife is a nurse, the member for Hartley's sister is a nurse, the member for Goyder's mum nursed for 50 years before retiring, the member for Hammond's cousin is a nurse, I had two aunts who were nurses at the Queen Victoria and the RAH, and my sister-in-law recently retired after many years of nursing, so how would we dare not, with great enthusiasm, support this motion.

Without our nurses, our health system would come to a stop. We should value our nurses and we should make sure we are doing everything we possibly can to value them. International Nurses Day is a day in particular when we can value the men and women who make up our nursing profession. It is no longer the Florence Nightingale style of nursing, it is far more sophisticated than that.

I am just a humble veterinarian and I had veterinary nurses who knew a lot more about some of the areas of veterinary science than I did because they were able to specialise in that area. I think underestimating the ability of our nurses to fill those gaps and fill those niches that some doctors would like to have as their whole gambit is misguided. We need to recognise that our nurses are there not just for their patients but for the whole of the health system, but primarily for their patients.

Every nurse I have ever met has impressed me immensely with their level of dedication and compassion to their profession. There is no way that we should not be doing everything we possibly can to make sure their jobs are not only safe and secure but also as enjoyable as they possibly can be by giving them the opportunity to advance themselves professionally, have good working conditions to work in and also have that security of career. We should get rid of the short-term contracts and give them those longer term opportunities to make sure that they can do what they want to do, and that is to go about nursing.

There would not be a person in here who has not had the pleasure and sometimes the pain of having a nurse by their side, whether it is having a vaccination or test when you were at school or, unfortunately, at the other end of the scale, being in an accident, having an injury or being ill and going to hospital. It is something that we do take for granted, but we should never ever take for granted, because I know that our nurses in South Australia have thousands of years of experience. That experience is something that has been worked on, developed and cannot be replicated, other than by those hard yards and that hard work at all hours of the day and night, as well as Christmas Day and Good Friday.

Nurses leave their families to go and do their job, and they do it with enthusiasm and dedication, and that is something that we must all applaud. I know everybody on this side, not only those with members of their families who have been in the nursing profession but everybody on this side and everybody in this place, applauds them. People think that we come in here and argue about lots of things, and there has been some demonstration of those differences this morning, but on this particular issue there is not daylight between our support and government members' support.

Congratulations to all the men and women of our nursing profession in South Australia. I wish you all well in the future. I wish you the happiness in your profession that you have all gone into it with, and certainly on a day like today. I was lucky enough to visit St Thomas's Hospital, and it was a terrific experience to see the history of nursing right back to Florence Nightingale. It really makes you think about how far we have come, and then to go into a hospital today and see how far we can go with specialist nurses and nurse practitioners. Who knows what they can do? On a day like today, let's celebrate nursing as the profession it is and the wonderful people in that profession.

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (12:14): Welcome to all nurses in the gallery today. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to acknowledge you all in recognition of International Nurses Day, which is celebrated annually. I am delighted to rise today in support of the member for Fisher's significant motion. Having begun my working life some time ago as a registered nurse and then moving on to become a registered midwife, I know how important the work you do is in our community.

You are the backbone of our hospitals, community health centres, aged-care facilities, rural and remote services, school health services and prison health centres. Just imagine how our community would look—and, indeed, be—without nurses. You are critical to the health and wellbeing of all our community. We are all touched by your expertise and care in some way on a constant day-to-day basis.

For over three decades, International Nurses Day has been recognised and celebrated on the anniversary of the birthday of Florence Nightingale, a courageous and visionary woman and nurse. This year's theme, 'Nurses: a force for change: improving health systems' resilience', builds on the previous year's theme. Increasingly, we hear of the challenges faced by our health system, and this is not just a local issue but a worldwide occurrence, due to the escalating challenges and expectations.

The pressures are continually evolving and changing as our system faces an increase in population, increases in chronic disease, increased consumer expectation, rapidly evolving technology, as well as escalating global changing issues, as demonstrated by the Ebola outbreak of last year, natural disasters, continuing conflict and the impacts of climate change. It is no wonder that we look to strengthen our resolve as these impacts exert their pressures.

We look to improve organisational resilience and, indeed, our own resilience, while supporting that of our colleagues. So, what does resilience look like? The word 'resilience' is derived from Latin, meaning' to spring back'. I would suggest that that is what many of you do on a daily basis, particularly after a demanding day. In the seventies and eighties, the term 'resilience' was adopted by the humanities community, where definitions such as the following began to appear:

…to anticipate risk, limit impact, bounce back rapidly through survival, adaptability, evolution and growth in the face of turbulent change.

Fundamental to resilience is innovation and excellence, and this was evidenced with the recent SA Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards.

These awards rightly recognise those outstanding nurses and midwives in their field on their quest to progress and champion the professions. We witnessed some amazing people doing some amazing things in the areas of practice, leadership, education, clinical research and patient-centred care. These awards are representative of, and speak for, all nurses and midwives. Critical to resilience is ensuring that your voice is heard and that you champion your profession constantly. I thank you for all you do, and on behalf of all my parliamentary colleagues and all South Australians I congratulate you all and wish you a very happy International Nurses Day for last week.

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (12:18): I, too, rise today to speak in support of this motion which recognises International Nurses Day on 12 May. I thank all the nurses present here in the chamber and nurses with whom I have been involved in my life. As the member for Morphett mentioned, my wife, Emma, was a nurse and, as I look back over her career, she has had some wonderful experiences. In fact, she began nursing at about the age of 14 in a retirement village across the road from her home. She worked there right through high school and loved the caring, nurturing aspect of the role.

She went on to study at The QEH under the old system, where they actually studied on site. She thoroughly enjoyed that time and worked very hard during that period as well. She then moved to Ceduna and worked in a local community hospital, giving her a great experience of another of the many roles in nursing. She then went on to work in Dom Care as well, travelling around town in a vehicle caring for some very lovely and wonderful people whom she went on to call friends.

A number of friends of mine from school, as well, moved into the nursing profession, both male and female—Eric Egert, Mandy Bray and Sharon Richards, just to name a few who come to mind—and they have done marvellous things in the nursing field. Recently, a friend of mine, Emma Fuller, became a midwife, which is outstanding. She spent a lot of time studying very hard to achieve that. Sadly, another friend works at the Tennyson cancer centre and I have seen a lot of her good work in recent weeks where she has worked with a couple of friends who are undergoing cancer treatment. It is amazing to see the work that Wendy does in very tough circumstances.

There are others in my electorate who have contacted me, Fiona Brunotte and also Jim Hogan, who are very passionate about the work nurses do, and I would like to acknowledge them as well. I am also an Alzheimer's champion and see the role that carers play, and we know that caring is a very big part of nursing. I would like to finish on a lighter note to share with the nurses who are here because I do appreciate, through the studying time, the little things that you come to learn and experience that people who do not do this profession may not understand.

I studied a sports science degree at university and we had a unit that we did in conjunction with the nurses, where we had to impart our skills on them and vice versa. We got in a situation where we were doing some fitness tests on the nurses. Some of them were quite fit and some of them not so fit, but for the first time I had to take the heart rate of someone who was not a contemporary of mine (a university student studying sports science).

Of course, I thought I knew what I was doing. I had to put the stethoscope on the heart of this young girl and she pulled her blouse out for me to put the stethoscope up and, as I looked in her eyes at that point in time, I totally forgot where the heart was positioned. I had absolutely no idea and when I placed the stethoscope about where I thought the heart was, I realised I was wrong. She kept a wonderfully straight face and was so professional; it was a credit to her.

When I moved the stethoscope down to where her heart was and her resting heart rate was 145 beats a minute, I knew I had perhaps rattled her as well, but she was very professional. I am sure from that moment forward in her nursing career she never got that wrong, and I made sure I never got it wrong after that moment either. I hope she had a wonderful nursing career because we had a great time at university working with the nursing students as well. They were wonderful people.

Again, to the people in the gallery and all the nurses out there, I thank you for the wonderful work you do. It is greatly appreciated by all of the community. I wish you all the best for the future and, again, recommend this motion to the house.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (12:22): I would just like to endorse the comments made by all the other speakers. I will not repeat them. I would just like to add a few comments of my own. Obviously, nurses impact on people's lives every day and probably more so than doctors do. We often talk about primary health care and GPs play an important role in that primary health care, but I would say that nursing staff and midwives also play an important role.

Obviously, midwives helped deliver my children and nursing staff cared for my dad when he was sick and also for my mother. Nursing staff obviously do quite a bit of work in aged-care facilities and in the disability sector, so when we talk about primary health care, and we often talk about the role of GPs, I think we should also remember the very important role that nurses and midwives play. Our system of health care is enriched by their work.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (12:23): I am very happy to support this motion. I have a vested interest, as my wife is a nurse and has been for 41 years. My daughter is also a nurse. She is a nurse in Darwin these days. My wife is still nursing, but as a practice nurse, not in a hospital. I guess there is a real family connection and that was made clear when my mother died a couple of years ago in hospital and my wife and daughter pushed the nurses in the hospital out of the way and said, 'We will do what needs to be done,' which they did. It is just something that goes with the job and they proceeded to do it which was a great farewell for my mother in many respects.

Nurses are an integral part of our very wellbeing, as are schoolteachers and others, of course. I do not think we want to forget any of those. Nursing is, by its very nature, a very demanding profession. It has changed immensely since my wife started 41 years ago, and is it much more subject to technology.

One of the things that my wife says regularly—she is not here to defend herself, but she would say it if she were here—is that she thinks there is now far too much training in universities and not enough in hospitals. She thinks that she got the basis of her nursing training well and truly in hospitals, and she has adopted the technology as she has gone along. I recently asked her what her next job was going to be and she said, 'Retirement,' so I suppose it is indicative that she is not going to back into a hospital, quite frankly.

I noted that the comments, particularly those of the member for Mitchell, were well deserved. I do not really want to go on too long, but I have much pleasure in supporting the motion.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (12:25): I will be brief, because I know others want to contribute to this motion. I thank the member for Fisher for bringing this motion and we certainly all wholeheartedly support it. I am very fortunate to be one of the many members who have a strong connection with nurses. My wife, Rebecca, is a nurse; in fact, this year she enters her 30^th year as a full-time nurse. She says, very regularly, 'Old nurses are the best nurses,' and the reason is that they are the hospital-trained nurses. She has the very strong view that they are the very best nurses by far.

I will just take a couple of minutes to talk about Gayle Woodford and the very tragic situation that happened to her. This is not because there is not a lot more to talk about on this issue—please understand straightaway that I support all the things other members have said. I spent a lot of my working life in the north of the state, including an enormous amount of time at Marla, which is essentially the jumping-off point to the Aboriginal lands. It is also the point where many people from the APY lands, whether they be lifelong residents or people who have been working there for one, or five, or 10 or 15 years, come to regularly for their shopping, socialising, etc.

In my other travels throughout outback South Australia, I came across many nurses doing the sort of work that Gayle Woodford did. Sadly, I can tell you that they often felt concerned that they risked facing the sort of situation that unfortunately came to Gayle Woodford. We must do something about this in South Australia. Nurses face risks in their work in many different ways in metropolitan Adelaide as well, but the tragic murder of Gayle Woodford unfortunately highlights the risks that have been around for decades and which, if we do not do anything about it, will continue to be around for decades.

Fortunately, it is a one-off tragedy in the fact that it has happened, but the risks have been here for ever and ever. It is a workplace risk issue and it is a community risk issue, and we absolutely must address it. I do not believe that we should have twice as many nurses working in these places, because unfortunately that would mean that half of the rest of the communities would miss out on nurses because there are not that many capable qualified nurses willing to go do that sort of work in remote communities.

If we required that wherever there was one nurse there must be two so that they could support each other, in a similar way to two officer patrols in policing, that would just mean that many other communities missed out. But, we do have to put in place a practical policy, which could be different community by community, so that these nurses have the safety and protection of somebody supporting them after hours.

It might be a responsible community member, it might be somebody's husband, it could be a principal or a teacher from a school, or it could be anybody from any other business. It could be an Aboriginal person or a non-Aboriginal person—that is completely irrelevant—but it is necessary that these nurses have somebody they can call on after hours who will attend with them and essentially be there to support them through that work.

I am not talking about a professional personal bodyguard, but we just know that if there is another person there who can support someone makes a huge difference with regard to how a potential perpetrator would think about their opportunity. We absolutely have to do this in South Australia. First, because we need to make sure that any similar tragedy is averted and, secondly, and nearly as important, so that nurses can feel comfortable about their work. Let us just hope that does not happen again, for decades, but for decades between now and then every nurse who goes out after hours to give care needs to feel much safer at work

I do not think it would be too much for there to be a bit of a roster system in these communities. Let us say that there were half a dozen people who would fall into the category of being willing and able to support a nurse by attending after hours with them; maybe you just have a week on call where you would commit to not consuming alcohol, commit to being available on the phone, etc. When the nurse gets the call to go and attend a medical situation the nurse could then call that person and say, 'I'll be around at your house in five minutes, I'll pick you up and we'll both go where I need to go to attend to this medical emergency.'

As I said, it can be different community by community, but it needs to be a very practical approach that will support nurses so that they can continue to do their work, without which these communities will not function. If we do not have nurses in these remote communities the communities will deteriorate; the communities will deteriorate without their support. This is incredibly, incredibly important.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (12:31): I support the motion:

That this house—

(a) recognises International Nurses Day celebrated annually on 12 May;

(b) acknowledges this year's theme, 'Nurses: a force for change: improving health systems' resilience'; and

(c) congratulates South Australian nurses for their dedication and professionalism and the pivotal role they play in the advancement of all South Australians' health.

Nurses impact all our lives. They impact our lives when we come into this world and they certainly impact our lives when something happens to us or we need to have a hospital admission. When you start having children yourself they are out there front and centre, and at the other end of the scale, whether in hospital or in rest homes, they see you off. They are very pivotal in our lives; if we did not have them, society would be so much poorer because they do play such a significant role in our lives.

Thinking about what I was going to say today, I thought about country sport, country football and netball. As Saturdays roll around at this time of the year, places like Sportsmed gear up on Saturdays, local hospitals gear up, because they know that the injuries will flow in. I want to note that at Murrayville, which is part of the Mallee league, I have to go over to the Murrayville cricket ground (the MCG) with my club at Peake to play footy occasionally. We did that almost two weeks ago and there just happened to be at least four people who needed a parent or caregiver—including my older son, who got concussion playing in senior Colts—to travel through to Lameroo to be looked after by the excellent health care given by the local nurses and the locum doctor (and we were very fortunate to have him on board that day).

I bring up the fact that all these people were coming from Murrayville and they got to Lameroo under their own steam (because there was no doctor at Pinnaroo that day) because of part of the recent discussion about the SA Ambulance Service not covering interstate travel. Here is a perfect example of where it affects communities right on the border, and those even further in, such as Coomandook, where we are, with my boys playing at the Peake football club.

I know of four people who needed attention; my son had concussion, and there were a couple of breaks, broken wrists, and one or two other injuries that I understand happened that day—and those are only the ones they knew about. One of our A-graders did not realise that he had broken his arm until the end of the day; he also had a broken wrist but played on—they make them tough at Peake.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Tough in the country.

Mr PEDERICK: Absolutely.

Members interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: Actually, Peake won that day; so, yes, it reminds you of one of those Monty Python sketches.

An honourable member interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: Okay; no worries. That just shows the need for appropriate health care to be put in place. I have had to attend Lameroo twice in the space of about three years, with both sons with concussion. I must commend the nurses who were there on a Saturday, who did great work checking their vital signs, especially when Angus was there a few years ago and had direct contact with the doctor from Loxton. It was excellent service from the staff on board in monitoring them after they had taken a heavy head knock.

Certainly, as I indicated, we have dealt with nurses when we have had to go to hospital for operations. I have had a hip replacement. They gave great service both at the Griffith Rehabilitation Hospital and Flinders Private. They are just fantastic people who help you when you need painkillers. Obviously, they are very strict with the meting out of Endone and morphine, which is certainly needed with surgery like that.

Nurses are to be commended for everything they do. They always do their utmost, and they are really caring people, especially when you need them at whatever stage it affects your family's life. I would like to commend our nursing community for everything they have done, for contributing to the wellbeing of all of us, and certainly the wellbeing of my constituents and my own family. I would like to acknowledge that they have also enhanced my social life at times. I commend the motion and commend nurses for everything they do.

Ms SANDERSON (Adelaide) (12:36): I rise to support the motion celebrating and recognising International Nurses Day, and I also commend nurses and all medical staff for the amazing work that they do. I would like to talk specifically about the Women's and Children's Hospital. In 2010, shortly after I was first elected, I went on a site visit to the Women and Children's Hospital, and I noticed that by 9.30 in the morning I had to drive almost to the top of the car park, and when I left about an hour later the car park was completely full.

Subsequent to that, I have had many, many calls from nurses, other staff in the hospital, as well as patients accessing the hospital. I have given many speeches and asked questions in parliament about the lack of parking for our nurses around the Women's and Children's Hospital. Whilst it is wonderful for the government to celebrate nurses—and I am sure they are very sincere and that they do appreciate their work—I think it is also important to provide safety for our nurses. I believe that providing safe car parking near hospitals is vital and should be provided by the state government. This has gone on for many years.

In terms of the car park across the road from the Women's and Children's Hospital, I have checked with engineers, and it is structurally sound and its height can be increased to take on more capacity. I note that in 2013 the government announced that within 10 years the Women's and Children's Hospital car park would be moved. However, that is still 10 years that potentially nurses and other staff at the Women's and Children's Hospital are left in dangerous and precarious situations.

Many articles have stated that nurses are carrying knives or weapons when they walk back to their cars late at night through the Parklands. Fortunately, the rapist who raped about four women, I believe, in the North Adelaide area through the Parklands, which also created a lot more angst amongst nursing staff who work shift work and who walk back to their cars late at night, has been captured, and I think it was the same person who raped and attacked all of those women. At least we know that we are safe from that point of view. However, there is still a need for adequate parking for nursing and medical staff who use the Women's and Children's Hospital as well as the Memorial Hospital nearby.

There has been a bit of a stopgap implemented by the Adelaide City Council, which has now issued I think 127 permit parks along MacKinnon Parade. However, I drove past again this morning just after nine and the hospital car park was full already, even with the extra 127 car parks, which were designed to be used by the day staff so that when the afternoon shift comes in they can access the car park, because they are going back late at night.

I measured that it was a one-kilometre drive from MacKinnon Parade to the hospital, which is not that bad in daylight, but if you are returning to your car very late at night that is still a considerable distance. Whilst temporarily that is helping, a long-term measure still needs to be put in place to protect our nurses. I, too, support the motion and ask that the government does more to help the safety of the nurses who work at the Women's and Children's Hospital by providing adequate parking.

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (12:40): I also rise today to support and recognise International Nurses Day, celebrated annually on 12 May, and also to acknowledge this year's theme, 'Nurses: a force for change: improving health systems' resilience', and congratulate South Australian nurses for their dedication and professionalism and the pivotal role they play in the advancement of all South Australians' health.

You never quite know when you will need a nurse, that is for sure. Recently in my electorate of Hartley at an ANZAC Day dawn service we were at The Gums to commemorate the day, the special day that it is for our nation, and an elderly lady collapsed on the lawns at The Gums. Luckily, a nurse was available. There was also a doctor in the crowd, and they were able to render assistance and then pass this person on to an ambulance that was nearby. However, that nurse, believe it or not, was my sister Therese. I am very proud of the way she acted that day. What happened then was almost a microcosm of what can happen any time at any public event out there. We are so fortunate in our community to have such wonderful doctors and nurses who are able to render assistance whenever called upon.

International Nurses Day, as we know, is celebrated around the world every 12 May, which is the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth, as has been stated this morning. The International Council of Nurses I believe commemorates this important day each year, with the production and distribution of the International Nurses Day kit. I understand that the 2016 kit contains educational and public information materials for use by nurses everywhere.

We have heard that this year's theme for 2016 is 'Nurses: a force for change: improving health systems' resilience'. The contents of this year's kit, including the poster image, are for use by individual nurses and also associations, health ministries and health institutions. IND activities I understand continue for much of the year by nurses and others. Nurses are certainly encouraged everywhere to make extended use of this kit, this service, through individual action but also through group activities.

I also pay tribute to Florence Nightingale, who lived from 12 May 1820 to 13 August 1910. As we have been told, she was a celebrated English social reformer and statistician, but also the founder of modern nursing. I take this opportunity to commend the good work nurses do in our community in South Australia, and I commend the motion to the house.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (12:43): In adjourning the debate, I take a quick opportunity to thank nurses across the state for their contribution to our community and commend them on all the work they do.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: And on my behalf also.

Motion carried.