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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-04-01 Daily Xml
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Government Funding Rally

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (15:51): Today, on the steps of Parliament House we saw the unusual and incredible sight of hundreds of hardworking public servants gathered to express their anger and dismay at the actions and inactions of this Premier.

Of course, the leader in this grievance debate has already mentioned the ambos and it is worth traversing that ground again. They were there in their hundreds. They were there because they were angry, because they were upset they cannot do their jobs and because they were dismayed that people are dying on their watch and there is nothing they can do about it.

It was sobering to stand in that crowd, that silent crowd, and hear the words of Paul, an ambo some of you may have heard speak before. He was in tears speaking to the silent crowd. He was in tears talking about the fact that he spoke to people who were in distress, who were dying and could not get the help they needed from him and his colleagues.

They know that this government has cut funding to the Ambulance Service. They know that this government has cut funding to nurses and cut nurse numbers. They know that emergency departments are under increasing and unprecedented pressure. They know that police officers and police crews are being called off their own important duties to take patients to hospital when ambulances are not available. This is all down to the actions or inactions of one man—and that is Steven Marshall.

As we have noted, he sends in the gatekeeper, Rob Lucas from the other place, to solve these problems. He does not solve them, he brushes them under the carpet. He acts as a gatekeeper and in some cases he makes it worse because he is not the person making the decisions. He knows he is out of here in a year's time. He is not the person who will be responsible for these decisions and meanwhile people are dying.

Of course, it was not just the ambos who were out today. The Metropolitan Fire Service and the United Firefighters Union were out in their hundreds today, complaining about resourcing and about this government's lack of action in terms of resourcing and listening to them. They came despite warnings that their pay would be docked for turning up at this demonstration. They came despite warnings that they would be reprimanded if they brought equipment and appliances to this demonstration, but still they came and they came in many numbers.

To most of us, particularly on this side of the house, their complaints were not new. I will start with appliances. We know that the Keelty review identified a severe lack of appliances within the metropolitan service following last summer's devastating bushfires. The bushfires were arguably the harshest and worst this state has seen in decades. In many cases, communities were unprepared for the ferocity, the speed and the intensity of these bushfires. I know there are members here with much more direct experience of that.

What is little appreciated sometimes is the role that the MFS play in bushfires. They act particularly in our peri-urban areas and in the regional centres as important parts of the bushfire response. It is not just the CFS, although they have their grumbles with this government too. The MFS need support. They need support now. It is identified by Keelty clearly, and not only in terms of burnover protection. I do not have time to go into the problems with burnover protection and the rollout of that, but I will alert the house once again to the words of Mick Keelty.

He said there is an urgent need to review the age and appropriateness of the fleet, and he said of the MFS particularly that fleet reserve capability is only being met 30 per cent of the time rather than the targeted 80 per cent. The minister's response to this was to accept it. Asked in estimates about the age of the appliances, he said there are 33 appliances under 10 years old, there are 53 appliances between the ages of 10 and 20 years old and there are 19 appliances over 20 years old. We know that some of those are over 30 years old, and those appliances exist largely in rural and regional areas.

Of course, there are other resourcing issues, particularly around engineering, but essentially they have two asks of this government, and those asks are falling on deaf ears. The first is to have long-term recurrent funding so that they do not have to go to the Treasurer—and this particular Treasurer is particularly difficult—every year or every four years, cap in hand, asking for funding for appliances. The second is an asset management plan. But the Premier will not even meet with them. The core of this problem is not resourcing: the core of this problem is the fact that this government simply will not listen.

Time expired.

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