Dr LIM - 2000-08-15
For the past couple of weeks there have been numerous stories in the local media regarding difficulties with regard to nurses at Borroloola. Can the minister assure residents of Borroloola that every step will be taken to ensure continuity of care despite these staffing difficulties?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I know the member for Greatorex, as a general practitioner who has travelled to remote areas and is also a frequent visitor to Tennant Creek, has a great concern about such matters. It was of concern to me also when I heard the stories about withdrawal of staff and I heard various commentators, including the ANF, talking about the situation out there.
I have been approached by many media outlets to make commentary on it but I have refrained because essentially it was an industrial relations issue and I have tried to stay out of it. But I do think it is important to go on the record and assure Territorians, particularly the residents of Borroloola, that the department will continue to provide services to them.
There are nurses on site now. The issues that have been blown up, might I say, in the press are issues that are easily handled by the department and they have been easily addressed. The department has great capacity for putting services into place in the bush. Notwithstanding calls from some commentators, including the ANF, that an independent instrument be used to assess the need at this particular clinic, we have been able to draw on our very vast resources to make the assessments necessary.
I was a bit concerned, I might say, with the ANF’s attack on some of my staff. Many of the managerial staff in Katherine are also nurses, and members of the ANF. I was a bit surprised that this body would make such a vitriolic attack on people with not only great expertise but also a union affiliation, and obviously a professional affiliation to those nurses working in the bush. In that sense I was very disappointed that a personal attack was made on a nurse who is known to many of us on this side, who has worked long and tirelessly as a lone practitioner in Mataranka for some years.
I suppose that indicates the difference between that side of the House and this side of the House. We often see various commentators from the opposition and their travelling mates going off and making wrong media comment about matters and leaving us to defend a rumour that they have kicked off in the first place. In this case the ANF has gagged or threatened to gag - tantamount to expulsion - this person for speaking out on behalf of not only the union members there but also Territory Health Services. I admire him for doing that and I place my support for this practitioner on the public record.
I ask the ANF to concentrate on its task at hand, rather than trying to run divisive political exercises of the type that they have in the past.`
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I know the member for Greatorex, as a general practitioner who has travelled to remote areas and is also a frequent visitor to Tennant Creek, has a great concern about such matters. It was of concern to me also when I heard the stories about withdrawal of staff and I heard various commentators, including the ANF, talking about the situation out there.
I have been approached by many media outlets to make commentary on it but I have refrained because essentially it was an industrial relations issue and I have tried to stay out of it. But I do think it is important to go on the record and assure Territorians, particularly the residents of Borroloola, that the department will continue to provide services to them.
There are nurses on site now. The issues that have been blown up, might I say, in the press are issues that are easily handled by the department and they have been easily addressed. The department has great capacity for putting services into place in the bush. Notwithstanding calls from some commentators, including the ANF, that an independent instrument be used to assess the need at this particular clinic, we have been able to draw on our very vast resources to make the assessments necessary.
I was a bit concerned, I might say, with the ANF’s attack on some of my staff. Many of the managerial staff in Katherine are also nurses, and members of the ANF. I was a bit surprised that this body would make such a vitriolic attack on people with not only great expertise but also a union affiliation, and obviously a professional affiliation to those nurses working in the bush. In that sense I was very disappointed that a personal attack was made on a nurse who is known to many of us on this side, who has worked long and tirelessly as a lone practitioner in Mataranka for some years.
I suppose that indicates the difference between that side of the House and this side of the House. We often see various commentators from the opposition and their travelling mates going off and making wrong media comment about matters and leaving us to defend a rumour that they have kicked off in the first place. In this case the ANF has gagged or threatened to gag - tantamount to expulsion - this person for speaking out on behalf of not only the union members there but also Territory Health Services. I admire him for doing that and I place my support for this practitioner on the public record.
I ask the ANF to concentrate on its task at hand, rather than trying to run divisive political exercises of the type that they have in the past.`
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016