Media Release
13 June 2007
Guarantee sought: don’t link health funding to AWAs
The Australian Nursing Federation is seeking a guarantee from the Federal Government that health funding in the 2008 Australian Health Care Agreements won’t force nurses onto Australian Workplace Agreements.
ANF Secretary Jill Iliffe said the revelation that the government is engaging a consultant to model the economic impact of moving more Australian workers onto AWAs is of great concern.
“The ANF will be seeking a core guarantee from the Federal Government that funding for hospitals will not be linked in the new Australian Health Care Agreements [due to be negotiated in 2008] to AWAs, as has occurred in the university sector,” Ms Iliffe said. “Nurses prefer collective agreements because they want to care for patients not spend their time negotiating wages and conditions.”
Ms Iliffe said a competitive wages system in hospitals where the quality of patient care is determined by who can pay the highest wages to attract and retain nurses is not in the public interest. Negotiating collective agreements is far less costly than individual agreements for the 250,000 nurses in Australia. “Nurses would rather see money spent on improving health care for patients than wasted on achieving the government’s ideological objectives.”
The ANF has campaigned over decades to improve the wages and conditions in the nursing profession to ensure that nurses are appropriately remunerated for the work they perform and that patients receive the best care, Ms Iliffe said.
“Any attempt to impose AWAs onto nurses working in our hospitals and aged care facilities is unacceptable. The government must make a core promise that this will not happen in the event they are returned to office at the next election.”
The ANF, representing 150,000 members, is the professional and industrial voice for nurses in
Media inquiries
Ged Kearney, Assistant Federal Secretary, 0417 053 322
Libby Muir, ANF Communications Manager 0413 834 979