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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-16 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Health Worker Incentives

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (14:14): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Does the government have nationally 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 Labor government has over $100,000 worth of incentives on the table, from HECS fees to sign-up bonuses to scholarships. The Queensland government has put $70,000 worth of incentives on the table for interstate and international medical practitioners to come to their state, and last week the Western Australian government announced $28.5 million worth of new attraction and retention initiatives, including HECS support.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer is called to order. Order, member for Chaffey!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:15): I really appreciate this question because it gives me an opportunity to talk about the excellent incentives that we are putting in place and to correct some of the wrong statements that we heard earlier today from the most negative political party in Australia: those opposite. Nothing positive to say whatsoever. They have been putting—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member the Schubert is warned. The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: They have been putting about figures which are plainly wrong and plainly misleading to not only people in South Australia but potential healthcare workers around the country. Very clearly—

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Schubert!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Very clearly, as you can see on the Victorian Health website, the incentives that are offered in Victoria for people to relocate to metro areas are the same as what's here in South Australia. For regional areas, it is the same: $10,000, $13,000 for both of those. And then we have gone one further and we have put in place a $15,000 incentive for remote areas here in South Australia. I think the opposition should check their facts. I think that they should actually spend some time supporting getting more healthcare workers in South Australia, supporting getting more people here—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens is called to order. The member for Schubert! The member for Frome knows better.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: We know when they were in office, only 13 months ago, what was in place—absolutely zero, and redundancies. They were making our staff redundant.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier is called to order. Member for West Torrens! Member for Frome! Member for Chaffey! The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: It takes a bit more front than David Jones to come in here—after when you were in government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Morialta!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —cutting staff and having no incentives—with some dodgy figures that you are bandying about. How about supporting staff? How about supporting our calls—

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Schubert is warned for a second time.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: —and our campaign to get more healthcare workers here in South Australia?

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