31
August 2004
Jury still out on political parties
More
than 50% of nurses have not decided who they will vote for in
the forthcoming federal election, and over 70% say they will
be influenced by the political parties policies according to
an Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) survey published in the
September Australian Nursing Journal.
The survey on aged care was conducted through the Australian
Nursing Journal and the journals of the NSW Nurses' Association
and Queensland Nurses Union in June and July.
Nearly 1000 members responded to the survey, and other findings
included:
- 98%
of respondents said that nurses working in aged care should be
paid the same as their public hospital colleagues.
- 88% of respondents said there should be minimum staffing levels for all nursing and other care classifications in aged care.
76% of respondents said they would pay a slightly higher Medicare levy if it meant better access to aged care for those people who need it.
The
survey asked how nurses intended to vote in the October federal
election and whether the policies of political parties were likely
to influence the way they voted.
'In an unexpected result, 54% of nurses are undecided about which
political party they will vote for. This has significant implications
for the federal election campaign in that information provided
to nurses may influence the way in which they vote,' ANF Federal
Secretary Jill Iliffe said.
'This view is confirmed by the subsequent question, with 74%
of nurses responding that they would be influenced by the political
parties' policies.
'Nurses working in aged care are currently paid on average $170
a week less than their public hospital colleagues yet the work
they do requires a similar level of skill and knowledge. Poor
remuneration and inadequate staffing levels are major barriers
to recruiting nurses to work in aged care.
'As aged care is a federal government responsibility, the federal
election offers a significant opportunity for political parties
to address these issues of concern to nurses. There are 250,000
nurses in Australia, making up about 2% of the voting population,
around 800 nurses in every electorate.'
Readers were invited to complete the survey and 908 from all
states and territories were received and analysed. Of those responding,
95.5% were female and 4.5% were male.
View survey results (PDF)
Media
inquiries:
Jill Iliffe, ANF Federal Secretary 0419 576 590
Ged Cowin, ANF Assistant Federal Secretary 0417 053 322
Heather Witham, ANF Federal Communications Officer 0417 359 907
The ANF, representing 140,000 members, is the professional and industrial voice for nurses in Australia.