AMA urges calm after Queensland Premier Campbell Newman’s ‘inflammatory’ comments #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has added fuel to the fire in the dispute over new individual contracts for senior doctors.
Mr Newman says he will hire doctors from interstate and overseas if those in Queensland do not sign up to the new agreements.
He has also accused doctors of looking for a war, after more than 2,000 voted to reject the contracts at a meeting in Brisbane on Wednesday.
AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton says Mr Newman’s comments are inflammatory but everyone needs to cool down.
“Tipping petrol on the fire isn’t going to take the heat out of it,” he said.
“We need some sensible heads, we need some time, and we are trying to put this thing back together.
“It is very hard to control people who are unhappy.
“They just get suspicious when timeframes are rushed and we have got to just calm things down and there is no need to put petrol on the fire.”
Dr Hambleton says both sides need to think about what is at stake.
“There were things that were said by doctors that were unhelpful,” he said.
“Certainly there were things that were said by the Government that were unhelpful.
“We need to just get cool heads to get this fixed.”
Senior medical officer Dr Sandy Donald says Mr Newman’s comments about specialist doctors shows a lack of respect and are out of line.
Dr Donald says a surplus of experienced specialists will leave regional areas if the contracts are not changed.
“I have to say we always assumed they had planned to bring in doctors from somewhere – I think it indicates the degree of respect they have for specialists across the state,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Gold Coast Medical Association says frustration is also rising for many of the 300 specialists in the region.
Local specialists say they are considering a mass resignation if the impasse over individual work contracts continues.
Association vice president Dr Stephen Withers says senior doctors are difficult to replace because their skills are in demand across the world.
Dr Withers says Mr Newman’s comments that he will replace them with interstate and overseas doctors has not helped.
“I’m not sure where the Premier would be hoping to recruit those doctors from, but I certainly don’t think that comments such as that are really be helpful in bringing us back to the table, so that we can try and come up with a good system so that we can save the Queensland public hospital system,” he said.
“Doctors are saying now perhaps the better thing to do is to resign en masse and to say ‘well, if the work and the time and energy doctors have put in to the public system – if that’s not going to valued – then that will have to be a decision that the Government will work its way through’.”