NSW Government caught spinning fiction to mask clinician exodus from public hospitals

The Doctors Union has launched a scathing attack on NSW Minister for Mental Health Rose Jackson, accusing her of peddling falsehoods and deliberately misleading the public to cover up her government’s abject failure to tackle the workforce crisis.

During a recent radio interview on 2GB, Minister Jackson brazenly claimed that public hospital psychiatrists earn an average of $438,000 annually and dismissed the escalating crisis as “just a pay dispute.” Both assertions are not only false and dangerously misleading.

ASMOF President Dr Nicholas Spooner said “To say that we’re disappointed in Minister Jackson is an understatement. These comments were not just wrong, they were a deliberate attempt to shift blame away from the government’s inaction.

“The Minister has an obligation to be truthful about matters in her portfolio. Instead, she has chosen to mislead the public, malign doctors, and gaslight a workforce that is already on the brink.”

The recent report from the Special Commission of Inquiry into Healthcare Funding delivered a searing assessment of the NSW public health system, with 41 recommendations following 70 hearing days over 18 months. The message? The system needs “significant work”, and both state and federal governments share the blame.

“It is clear to me that the level of funding presently provided to NSW public hospitals is inadequate to deliver the service that the public of NSW expect…,” said Justice Richard Beasley who led the Inquiry.

NSW psychiatrists are demanding a properly funded and adequately staffed mental health system that can genuinely meet patient needs.

“This isn’t just about pay. It’s about safe staffing, sustainable workloads, and basic respect for the people who care for some of our state’s most vulnerable patients,” Dr Spooner emphasised.

Minister Jackson’s headline-grabbing claim that psychiatrists earn an average of $438,000 a year is not only false, it’s outright impossible under the current award conditions.

“The top-of-scale award rate for a full-time psychiatrist is $354,479. However, accounting for the range in seniority and the average FTE of the psychiatry workforce (which is 0.65 FTE) brings real average earnings closer to $200,000,” Dr Spooner explained.

“This isn’t just a mistake, it’s a fabrication. The Minister has refused to provide any evidence for the $438,000 figure because she knows it’s indefensible. It takes more than 12 years of training to become a psychiatrist. These are not overpaid staff, they are deeply committed professionals who are being pushed out by a broken system.”

The government’s supposed negotiations with psychiatrists are another convenient fiction. Minister Jackson claimed her government is negotiating alongside the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) process, but this is untrue. The IRC proceedings were initiated independently by the Commission’s President. The government has neither presented a proposal nor taken any meaningful steps to resolve the crisis. Instead, it has actively opposed the only plan on the table: ASMOF’s interim award aimed at stabilising the workforce.

“Minister Jackson says she can’t act because her hands are tied. But the truth is, she’s done nothing to help. Her few meetings with ASMOF have been performative at best, there’s been no meaningful action, no genuine engagement, and no plan,” Dr Spooner charged.

ASMOF demands that Minister Jackson publicly correct the record on psychiatrist salaries, produce the evidence and advice behind her misleading claims, and stop deflecting responsibility in favor of delivering real solutions.

“Minister Jackson has a duty to be honest with the media, health workers, and most of all, the patients and families she is meant to serve. Instead of correcting the record, she’s doubled down on misinformation. Our health system and public deserve better,” he emphasised.

The clock is ticking. ASMOF insists the NSW Government must immediately commit to safe staffing of mental health services, provide the 25% attraction and retention allowance for psychiatrists, fully fund training and registration fees for psychiatry trainees, establish a joint workforce committee with ASMOF and NSW Health, and return to genuine negotiations with the profession.

“The Premier has had this problem on his desk for two years. We’ve offered solutions. Psychiatrists have entered arbitration in good faith. But while the government continues to mislead and delay, the crisis deepens.

“The truth is clear. The question now is whether the government will act, or continue to spin,” remarked Dr Spooner.

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