Federal Election: Which major party will be better for health workers?
When it comes to the cost of living everyone is feeling it, but those who take care of the sick and infirm are beginning to feel very underappreciated by a government that claims they are at the frontlines of Australia’s Covid-19 response.
The pay and conditions of healthcare workers seem to have largely been ignored by both Labor and the Coalition, with few measures to address the issues many healthcare workers feel have worsened since a pandemic wads declared in March 2020.
This is what we know about how the Liberal and Labor parties’ plan to make life easier for retail workers.
Federal election: Can ex-premier Kristina Keneally help Labor win?
Federal Election: Scott Morrison 'has no plan' to reduce cost of living
George Christensen defends move to One Nation: 'Keeping the bastards honest'
Coalition policies that affect health workers
The Coalition has made big promises for the bush, with Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce spearheading the announcement of $146 million to address the shortage of doctors and other medical professionals in rural communities, which may ease a little pressure from rural hospitals and GP clinics.
Other measures include:
· Injecting $15 million to the John Flynn Prevocational Doctor Program, which aims to put more than 1,000 junior doctors in rural and regional general practices.
· $35 million for the Innovative Models of Collaborative Care program
· $9 million for additional training posts
· $87 million to provide additional workforce incentives.
The Coalition also says it has doubled funding for public hospitals from $13.3 billion in 2012-13 to $27.2 billion in 2022-23 and will go up further to $32.7 billion in 2025-26.
Labor policies that affect health workers
Labor has pledged to deliver 50 Medicare urgent clinics where people can attend for non life-threatening treatment with the aim to take pressure off overworked emergency departments.
Labor has also committed to changing current rules put in place by the Coalition to allow regional and outer metro communities to recruit doctors locally and from overseas.
Labor has matched what the Coalition has announced for rural and regional communities.
Health workers "priced out of communities they serve"
Yahoo News Australia spoke to Health Services Union National President Gerard Hayes about which major party would serve health workers better as a government. While he did not directly point out which one would, he wasn’t glowing in his appraisal of the Coalition’s treatment of health workers thus far.
“Australian health and aged care workers need a pay rise and relief from the surging cost of living,” Mr Hayes said.
"Our members are being priced out of the communities they serve and grew up in, as sky-rocketing rents and mortgage interest rates push them to the brink.
“Wages simply haven’t kept pace with inflation. In aged care, for example, workers are earning as little as $22 an hour in understaffed facilities dealing with challenges such as COVID and dementia.”
Inflation not in line with wage rises
With inflation hitting a 20-year high of 5.1 percent in the past week, the “cost of living” election now looks almost certain to sink a government already struggling with accusations of dishonesty, a lack of action on climate change and general discontent with their leadership in the last term of government.
The government is at a loss to explain why it hasn’t ensured wages rose at a similar level, with the 2.3 percent rise going nowhere near the level of inflation.
Time to “pull the levers”
This is a problem that governments can fix and Mr Hayes says they need to begin doing what they’re elected to do.
“Government has many levers at its disposal, from reforming wage bargaining to better funding of aged care and health. It’s time they started pulling them,” he said.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
