Media Release
8
March 2005
ANF dismayed by finance minister's comments on nurses
The
ANF today expressed extreme disappointment about comments made
by Finance Minister Senator Nick Minchin reported in The Age
(You blew it: Costello accuses states on GST, p.1), saying
that 'GST revenue had been wasted on wage claims by state
government employees such as teachers and nurses'.
He went on to say that 'What has been happening under a sequence
of Labor governments across the country had been featherbedding
the union mates of the Labor Party, the public sector unions,
and they have been therefore sacrificing the appropriate levels
of investment in the future'.
'This is an offensive statement to nurses. Nurses provide a valuable
and essential service to the Australian community,' ANF Federal
Secretary Jill Iliffe said.
'Senator Minchin should talk to his education colleague Minister
Brendan Nelson, who in a press statement on 4 February said:
'The 2002 National Review of Nursing Education found that
no amount of extra nursing places will be sufficient if the state
and territory governments, which actually employ nurses, do not
stem the flow of nurses leaving the profession due to issues
of pay and working conditions.'
'Here we have Senator Minchin suggesting that states should pay
nurses less, and Minister Nelson suggesting states should pay
nurses more,' Ms Iliffe said.
'Senator Minchin may not have noticed but there is an acute nursing
shortage in Australia, and to recruit and retain nurses there
needs to be appropriate levels of remuneration.
'Perhaps Senator Minchin doesn't appreciate what nurses do, but
the Australian community does, rating them as the most honest
and ethical of occupational groups in the Morgan Poll 11 years
in a row (nurses have only been included in the poll for 11 years).
Senator Minchin should check and see how politicians score.
'While Senator Minchin is busy with the useless activity of political
point scoring which benefits no one, nurses are busy getting
on with the job of saving lives. Nurses have a physically and
emotionally demanding job and they work long and hard for what
they are paid.
'For the record Senator Minchin, starting salaries for nurses
are $37,000 per annum [GradStats], which hardly qualifies as
"featherbedding",' Ms Iliffe said.
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 145,000 members, is the professional and industrial
voice for nurses in Australia.