Minns Labor Government fails to deliver the healthcare people in NSW deserve

Starting today, for the first time in more than 25 years, thousands of doctors across public hospitals in New South Wales will launch three days of rolling industrial action in response to the collapse of pay negotiations between the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (ASMOF) and the NSW Government.

This comes off the back of failed negotiations with nurses, midwives, and the mass resignation of public hospital psychiatrists.

“Chris Minns leads the Do Nothing Government — they don’t do leadership, don’t do reform, and they certainly don’t do new delivery. NSW doesn’t need another press conference. We need a government that actually does something,” said Mark Speakman, Leader of the Opposition in NSW.

Hundreds of elective surgeries have been postponed and some specialist appointments for patients have been cancelled.

The dispute centres around a pay offer from the government that has infuriated the union. Despite the government’s claims that this action will “harm patients,” many in the medical profession see the situation as a result of the government’s failure to meet reasonable demands.

At a press conference yesterday, Ryan Park, Minister for Health in NSW, and acting Secretary Mathew Daly warned that the industrial action would severely affect patient care.

“I’m not going to stand here and have the community think for one moment that thousands of doctors can be taken offline, out of the public health system in New South Wales, and patient safety won’t be impacted or won’t be at risk. I can assure you it will be,” Minister Park said.

“During the industrial action taken by nurses, we saw literally hundreds of surgeries cancelled each day. In fact, we had some point where 700 surgeries were cancelled in a single day. So the likely impact of this action over a three-day period is significant. This strike will harm patients, and I will not sugarcoat that reality.”

The standoff comes after the NSW Government rejected the union’s request for a 30% pay increase, offering a 10.5% increase over three years instead.

Minister Park defended the government’s stance, arguing that offering such an increase would be unsustainable, especially considering other sectors, like nurses and midwives, are also demanding substantial pay rises.

“The union’s pay increase demand would cost $11 billion over the forward estimates. We can’t make up for over 10 years of wage suppression under the former government’s wages cap in a single year by offering some of the highest-paid healthcare workers in the system a 30% increase. That is not reasonable,” he stated.

ASMOF spokesperson Dr Nick Spooner slammed the government’s behaviour, saying it had reached a “deeply troubling point” after negotiations fell apart.

“We have seen NSW Health make broad and alarming claims about unsafe staffing over nights and public holidays, yet they have failed to provide the Union with any evidence or detail – despite formal requests,” Dr Spooner remarked. “We are the only ones in this crisis putting patient safety first. We are doing this to protect the public health system, the same system this Government seems willing to let fall apart.”

The union has also raised concerns about the NSW Government allegedly disseminating misleading information about the strike while reportedly deleting critical emails sent by the union from government servers – making it harder to communicate important updates to members.

“This is completely inappropriate and puts the safety of doctors and patients at risk. We are actively trying to share critical information with our members, including the Ministry’s own concerns, and Health is stopping those messages from getting through,” Dr Spooner asserted.

In a defiant response, Daly dismissed these claims as “nonsense,” claiming the union had failed to provide essential details about staffing levels during the strike.

“I could not think of a word other than nonsense to describe the claims,” he stated. “The advice we’ve received has been haphazard, to be kind… We’ve been pleading with the union to provide us with precise details of the staffing that will be provided so that we can actually make a judgment call as to the level of risk… We’ve been pleading for that information since last week. It’s still not coming through… That makes it exceptionally difficult to mitigate risk if we are not going to be transparent as to the medical resources that will be available on the field.”

The dispute continues to highlight the deep rift between the two sides, with neither party backing down. The union insists that the government’s concerns about staffing and safety are exaggerated and that standard protocols could mitigate any disruptions.

“It would not be unreasonable to cancel non-essential services and engage alternative workforce coverage where needed, such as VMOs and locums, which is standard practice during any public holiday,” said Dr Spooner.

“If NSW Health can identify specific gaps in coverage, ASMOF will act to direct our members to work where patient safety is at risk. But what we cannot accept is a blanket assertion of system-wide staffing failures with no evidence.”

For his part, Minister Park urged the union to return to the negotiating table in a bid to resolve the crisis and mitigate the risks posed by the industrial action.

“We’ve been pleading with the union to provide precise details of staffing coverage. Without that information, it’s impossible to mitigate risks. This action seems like a want, not a need,” he said.

Shadow Health Minister Kellie Sloane said patients in NSW hospitals will pay the price for the Minns Labor Government’s industrial chaos.
 
“They will pay for it in longer waits in our EDs and cancelled surgeries. The Government has admitted that patient safety may be compromised – this is an unacceptable outcome,” asserted Minister Sloane.

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