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Winter 2006

Ambos Road Accident Rescue Dispute Escalates

Ambulance Officers instituted work bans from 26 July in protest against the State Government’s plans to transfer responsibility for urban road accident rescue to the Tasmanian Fire Service.

"I think the way in which this matter has been dealt with is a litmus test for the Government from our perspective," said HACSU Assistant State Secretary Tim Jacobson, "and the signs are not particularly good, particularly in terms of consultation."

Ambulance members are especially unhappy with the manner in which the decision to transfer road accident rescue was made. The Government initially made commitments to consult with Ambulance staff and HACSU once a report into the provision of road accident rescue was complete, but this commitment was broken, and no consultation was undertaken between the release of the report and the announcement of the decision to transfer responsibility - which happened at essentially the same time.

Members are also concerned that the decision to transfer road accident rescue will compromise public safety and result in a loss of skills and experience within the ambulance service.

HACSU took these concerns to the Government and proposed a shared role for the fire and ambulance service in accident rescue that would maintain the skills and experience of ambulance officers at accident scenes. However, rather than work with the Union, the Government has instituted their own parallel process to re-examine road accident rescue. The Government process does not include a specific time frame or any explicit HACSU involvement.

"It is our view that the Government is seeking to muddy the waters in relation to this issue. So far it's been about everything except public safety - which is obviously a key issue for our members," Tim argued.

"We are sitting down with people who are not being given any instruction or ability to make decisions."

"In an attempt to progress the situation, members have taken the decision to institute work bans. We expect that the dispute will end up in the Commission again, but we must fight for a process that is well understood, and that actually works towards an outcome for this dispute."