Assistant Health Minister speaks out against Qld Government in public doctors’ contract dispute #keepourdoctors #qldpol
Assistant Health Minister Dr Chris Davis says he wants to stay on in the role, despite his criticism of the Queensland Government’s doctors’ contracts policy being made public.
Dr Davis is a former president of the Australian Medical Association of Queensland (AMAQ).
He wrote a letter to fellow MPs about controversial contracts for senior doctors, warning they could lead to patient harm, and describing his position in the Government as untenable.
It appears the letter was not actually distributed to MPs, but it is understood the issue was raised at yesterday’s LNP party room meeting.
Dr Davis says he wants to remain the Assistant Minister.
“I think being there may be more valuable than not,” he said.
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg will meet with Dr Davis today to clarify the situation.
A spokesman for the Minister earlier today says Dr Davis is then expected to make a statement, which makes clear his position.
Dr Davis says he believes Mr Springborg is willing to listen and has urged the State Government to renegotiate the contracts.
Dr Davis says the issues can be resolved without re-starting negotiations.
“Robust discussions are an essential part of a healthy democracy,” he said.
“I would certainly be feeling very unhappy with myself if I had not raised what best evidence seems to suggest.
“So I’ve done that – I’ve had feedback, we’ve identified a way forward.”
Cairns anaesthetist Dr Sandy Donald, from the group ‘Keep Our Doctors’, says it would be best if Dr Davis can remain as the Assistant Health Minister.
“Having someone who has the interests of patients at heart, close to the Minister, has got to be a good thing,” he said.
“I think there will be people who will judge the LNP extremely harshly if Chris Davis is forced to quit the party for expressing deeply held views.”
Opposition health spokeswoman Jo-Ann Miller says Mr Springborg is ignoring doctors, as well as his own Assistant Minister.
“The Government needs to resolve this crisis in the state’s best interest,” she said.
“What they need to do is go back to the negotiating table and they need to be sensible instead of being so arrogant.”
Ms Miller says Dr Davis is being open and honest with his own Government.
“If the Premier and the Health Minister won’t listen to their own Assistant Minister for Health, who also happens to be an eminent medical specialist, then there’s Buckley’s of them listening to the average Queenslander,” she said.
Ms Miller says the Government should take his concerns seriously.
“Go back to the negotiating table and they need to be sensible instead of being so arrogant,” she said
Public specialists reject current work contracts proposal
Meanwhile, a Gold Coast meeting of 150 public specialists has unanimously rejected the State Government’s individual work contracts in its current form.
Mr Springborg says he is confident hundreds of senior doctors will sign the contracts in Queensland, despite a campaign by the Australian Medical Association to reject them.
He says the federal branch of the Australian Medical Association is exaggerating the level of anger and concern about individual work contracts for senior doctors in Queensland.
But the chair of the Gold Coast’s Senior Medical Staff Association, Dr Jon Field, says Gold Coast specialists are considering leaving Queensland health en masse if concerns about working conditions in the contracts are not resolved.
“Every doctor who can move is looking at doing so,” he said.
“Every doctor who can work in a private sector is looking at that.
“Doctors who can move interstate and overseas are looking at doing that.
“There’s employment warnings all around the world and within Australia saying ‘don’t come to work in Queensland – there’s too much uncertainty’.”
Dr Field fears specialist fields will be wiped out of the public system if the State Government does not alter individual work contracts.
He says it will only take minor rewording of the contract to fix doctor’s concerns, but specialists have been told their pay will be cut by 30 per cent if they do not sign by April 30.
“If we don’t sign by the end of July then we won’t be offered a contract again,” he said.
“My fear is that large numbers of specialists will leave the public service.
“Many have expressed an eagerness to do so, and an intention to do so, and we are talking about entire specialty groups will leave en masse.”
A specialists’ meeting will be held to further discuss the contracts in Brisbane tomorrow night.
Source: ABC News