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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-10-28 Daily Xml
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Health Workforce

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:12): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health and Wellbeing and/or the Treasurer a question about our public health medical workforce.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: Our public health doctors are already grappling with excessive workloads and high levels of fatigue in an already under-resourced system that is struggling to meet patient demand, and that is even before any impacts of COVID after the borders open. The impacts will happen; it's just a matter of how severe.

There is now increasing concern from our medicos about the ramifications of those impacts and fears the government will move to legally force them to work 24/7 when full impacts hit. For one, these dedicated professionals don't need to be told—need to be forced—to work round the clock, seven days a week. They do it and will do it regardless—that whatever-it-takes attitude, as they have already shown. Two, any forced direction to make doctors work will cause chaos between SA Health and doctors. My questions to the minister are:

1. Is the government preparing, planning or considering any changes to the directions made under the Emergency Management Act regarding the working hours or conditions of the medical workforce?

2. Will the minister give a commitment that the government will not use those powers to direct the state's medical workforce to undertake work contrary to the laws of the state, which includes work contrary to the enterprise agreement under which they are employed?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:13): On a technicality, I suppose, the Emergency Management Act isn't committed to me, but I can certainly indicate that I'm not aware of any suggestion that Emergency Management Act powers would be used to override state industrial law, and my view is that they wouldn't be able to.

The PRESIDENT: Supplementary, the Hon. Ms Bonaros.

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