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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-16 Daily Xml
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Health Worker Incentives

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (14:17): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Does the government have internationally competitive policies in place to attract and retain frontline health workers and, if not, why not? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mrs HURN: The Victorian government have invested in billboards across Ireland. Victorian public health representatives are involved in attending job fairs right across the UK as well as offering incentives such as relocation support, worth $33,000, and visa sponsorships. Here in South Australia, it's a reimbursement of up to $15,000 into the regional areas and $10,000 for the city.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:18): The answer to the member for Schubert's question is yes.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: More than that, we have evidence to substantiate that answer in that there are now over 550 clinicians working in SA Health, over and above attrition, than was the case when we came to government. Now, 550 extra: that talks to well over 200 extra nurses in the system, an extra 89 doctors in the system and over 141 paramedics in the system, over and above attrition, and we have achieved all that in the space of 12 months.

Only this morning, the health minister and I were able to be joined by a gentleman who had moved from Queensland and another young doctor who has moved from the Philippines, because they have actively chosen to work for SA Health here in the state of South Australia. They could have chosen to work anywhere in the world, but they have chosen to work here in South Australia, along with over 550 additional over and above attrition. Why? Because we have chosen to fund those places. We have given them a job to come to, which of course stands in active contrast to the policy of the former government, which was to make health workers redundant in none other than a global pandemic.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We haven't seen a better example of two contrasting policy positions than the one that this government has and the one the former government had over 14 months ago.

More than that, more than the fact that we already have over 550 additional people working in the system, we know that there are more to come, because this government is going to continue to remain competitive and actively recruit additional health workers, because we need them. The reason why we need them is we are opening more beds. We are not in the business of opening beds without the practice of staffing them, or creating the illusion of opening more beds but then making staff redundant behind the system.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We are doing everything it takes. Already, we are heartened by the fact that it is actually starting to deliver results. There is a long way to go—that is without question—but there are results when it comes to elementary key points of improvement around ambulance response times. When South Australians call 000 today, they have a demonstrably better chance of their ambulance rolling up on time than was the case 14 months ago. Priority 2 callouts have improved dramatically. Priory 1 callouts have improved dramatically. We should remember that 14 months ago when someone called 000 with a lights and sirens emergency in the form of priority 2, the ambo was rolling up only 33 per cent of the time on time. Today, that number has dramatically improved.

We will continue to be competitive in the global marketplace for health workers. We will continue to put additional funding in the budget to attract people to move here. What we have done already works, but we are going to continue to improve it because this government is committed to improving our health system and is going to do whatever it takes to ensure we achieve that end.

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