Nurse Safety

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:32): Supplementary: by what date will the government implement in full a nurses' comprehensive 10-point plan for improving hospital security?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:32): This raises the point that is being asserted implicitly by the honourable member's question and explicitly by the nurses union, that this government has not acted in relation to hospital safety. That is not right. We have enacted the strongest penalties in the state's history for emergency service worker assaults. We have established a steering group which is rolling out an improved strategy to challenge behaviours. In the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network we have established forums on personal safety and situational awareness.

We have announced the expansion of the car park at the Lyell McEwin. At the Women's and Children's Hospital we recently added extra security and security escorts for staff to parked cars. The Central Adelaide Local Health Network has established a senior nurse consultant position to deal with violent incidents. We have taken strong action to support the safety of staff and patients in South Australia. We will continue to do that. We will continue to draw on the Victorian ANMF document, advice from the ANMF and other employee organisations, but we repudiate the suggestion by the opposition and the nurses union, their political allies, that we have not acted, because we have.