SA Doctors' Industrial Action

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Are SA doctors holding a stop-work meeting on 25 June and, if so, what is the minister's reaction? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mrs HURN: It was reported on Channel 9 News last night that talks between the government and the union had broken down and that the South Australian Salaried Medical Officers Association had ordered a stop-work meeting. On 25 June, 2,500 to 3,000 doctors will walk off the job from 8.30 until 9.30 in the morning.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:56): I thank the member for Schubert for her question. Obviously, the state government is currently in enterprise bargaining negotiations with the salaried doctors' association, SASMOA. As per all of our enterprise bargaining negotiations, we are undertaking those discussions in good faith. We are meeting regularly with SASMOA to discuss what they would like to see as part of the enterprise bargaining agreement. The state government is putting forward its proposals for what should be part of the enterprise bargaining agreement.

As the Premier has made clear, in all cases of these enterprise bargaining agreements, we want to give our employees real wage increases, and that's certainly what we are proposing in terms of the salaried medical officers agreement, but we also need to be obviously reasonable about that and have a mindfulness for the state budget and taxpayers overall as well.

We continue to have those discussions with SASMOA. What we are not going to do is what was done under the previous enterprise bargaining agreement, where there was an agreement struck with the Salaried Medical Officers Association for our frontline doctors for 1½ per cent pay increases for our doctors. That was the agreement signed by the previous government, below inflation. We are proposing real wage increases for all of our various sectors of the workforce, and we will continue those discussions in good faith with SASMOA and other unions appropriately.