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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-10-14 Daily Xml
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Health Workforce

The Hon. C. BONAROS (14:54): Further to that, can the Treasurer advise why the government is only willing to commit to a short-term agreement expiring in 14 months' time?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:54): Because we've got short, medium and long-term issues in terms of managing our health system. We want to see a fair and reasonable salary and EB agreement settled with SASMOA, and we are open to sitting down for sensible discussions within the parameters that I have broadly outlined here. There are other details that they are seeking, which we are prepared to look at; there are some that we are not.

They have ruled out a number of areas of reform which we think are important, some of which are predicated on the recommendations, in part, of the ICAC commissioner, who did raise issues about the employment arrangements with salaried medical officers who might have the rights of private practice. The ICAC commissioner raised issues, for example, of we need to make sure that, in some limited cases, doctors are not being paid more than 1.0 in terms of full-time equivalent, that is, between their private sector work and their public sector work. The ICAC commissioner actually raised some issues that there were some examples that they had determined where people were being paid for more than 1.0 full-time equivalent.

There are some important issues that have been raised. We are seeking to negotiate sensibly a response to that. So far SASMOA have refused to negotiate in relation to those particular issues. We will continue to work as hard as we can in terms of trying to reach a sensible agreement but, as I said, they have always said to us their biggest issue is massive increase in resources—tick. The minister and the government are delivering on the massive increase in resources that they are asking for.

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