Queensland nurses take their aged care message to marginal seats tomorrow
Published: 6 October 2009
Make the 2010 Federal Budget, the Aged Care Budget – or face the political consequences
Queensland nurses will tomorrow (7 October) take their campaign for improved staffing levels in the aged care sector – the Because We Care: Quality care for older Australians campaign - to various marginal federal electorates held by Labor members.
The nurses will set up stalls outside various electorate offices and at other prominent sites around the State, distributing information on the staffing problems in aged care and asking members of the public to send a campaign postcard to their local federal member (see list of stalls attached).
Nurses will also meet with their local Labor members in the electorates of Blair, Bonner, Dawson, Flynn, Longman, Moreton and Petrie.
Queensland Nurses Union (QNU secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said tomorrow’s Statewide activity will remind federal Labor members that providing quality aged care is one of the biggest challenges facing Australia and that next year’s federal budget needs to start addressing the issues of staffing and funding if we are to meet the challenge.
“The 2010 federal budget has to be the Aged Care Budget. It is as simple as that. We hope to collect 10,000 postcards tomorrow and over the next few weeks, which will be sent to federal politicians and which ask them to ensure the 2010 budget is indeed the Aged Care Budget.
“Failure to make this happen could see nurses campaigning on the issue during the next federal election campaign. Nurses, through the Your Rights at Work campaign during the last federal election, have shown they are strong and effective campaigners if they decide something is worth campaigning for.
“I can assure the Federal Government and all local politicians that nurses, in all sectors, believe this is an issue worth campaigning over. We invite members of the public to sign a postcard tomorrow and make sure we can provide quality aged care for all Australians in the years ahead. For that to happen the staffing problems in the sector need to be addressed and be addressed now.
“They have been recognised and written about for many years, in report after report, but little effective action has been taken to fix them. We cannot afford any more delay. The 2010 federal budget must include initiatives that address the inadequate pay and nursing skill mix problems that plague the industry,” Ms Hawksworth said.
The Because We Care campaign, which was launched in March this year, has so far also involved television and newspaper advertising and workplace visits aimed at organising aged care nurses into effective community campaigners.
Campaign objectives include:
- seeking mechanisms that ensure openness and accountability in the way taxpayer funds are spent;
- fair pay for nurses and care staff in aged care who are now paid up to $300 a week less than nurses in other sectors;
- introducing the right balance of skills and working hours so that nurses and care staff can provide quality care; and
- recognition of the professional skills of assistants in nursing and care staff through a national licensing system.
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