QUEENSLAND HEALTH WEIGHS LEGAL OPTIONS AFTER SETBACK #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
QUEENSLAND Health is considering its options after failing to secure a court hearing to shut down “misinformation” over the heated contracts dispute before the deadline for doctors to sign.
QH Director-General Ian Maynard told The Courier-Mail yesterday that he was seeking legal advice on whether to lodge an application in the Federal Court for an urgent hearing of the case.
The department could also seek an interim order in an attempt to stop the distribution of information it says is “misleading” until a court hearing on the matter set for May.
QH has filed a notice in the Federal Court seeking an injunction against doctors unions and the Queensland branch of the Australian Medical Association over information disseminated to its members criticising the contracts.
But the first hearing has been set down for May 6 – almost a week after the State Government’s April 30 deadline for senior doctors to sign the individual contracts.
QH could have asked for an expedited hearing or a court order for an injunction until the matter is heard at the time of filing its action but did not.
But Mr Maynard said he had not anticipated how long it would take to secure a hearing.
“We will consider what legal options we’ve got,” he said. “Now that it is made before it’s going to be heard we will consider whether we seek an interim injunction or whether we seek to expedite.”
He directed QH’s industrial relations team to sift the internet for other misleading claims and to contact unions asking them to correct the record.
Source: Courier Mail