Ambulance advert triggers political warning to public servants

Independent umpire Erma Ranieri has warned all public servants to stay out of politics as the election enters its final stages, after a paramedic appeared in an ALP ad.

An investigation has been launched into how a serving paramedic became the star in a Labor Party election advertisement.

In response to an inquiry by Liberal MLC Heidi Girolamo on Tuesday, Commissioner of Public Sector Employment Erma Ranieri confirmed she had asked the Health Department if the paramedic, identified in the ad only as ‘Ash’, had breached public service rules by urging a Labor vote on March 19.

In the ad, Ash states: “Lives are at risk and Steven Marshall isn’t doing enough.”

A woman claiming to be Ash on Twitter, Ashleigh Frier, has also kept up a constant attack on the Liberals.

Claimed Ambulance paramedic Ashleigh Frier, who appears in Labor Party campaign material.

The Ambulance Employees Association – whose own state election campaign is being run by Dee Madigan, who was behind the Community and Public Sector Union’s 2014 campaign that accused then Prime Minister Tony Abbott of the “backdoor privatisation of Medicare – said Ash had acted entirely in her own time and therefore there was no breach of the rules.

Neither Labor nor the union would say if Ms Madigan had any role in the Ash ad.

But Treasurer Rob Lucas said: “The Labor Party have set up this person with a potential breach of public sector rules and they should accept responsibility.

“It would appear to be a clear breach of the code of ethics set up by the Labor Party.

“(If this was allowed) where would it end? One public servant could support the Liberal party and another the Labor Party and on and on it would go”.

Public servants are banned from commenting on politics without approval from bossesin order to maintain the independence of taxpayer-funded services. The investigation will look into whether Ash had approval.

The code of ethics states: “Public sector employees will only make public comment in relation to their duties, the public sector or the government – including policy and programs – when specifically authorised to do so”.

Ms Ranieri refused to comment on the case but told The Advertiser she had written to all public servants prior to the start of the campaign reminding them of the policy to avoid taking sides in the election.

Union secretary Leah Watkins said Ash had acted “… off-duty, not in SAAS-supplied apparel, not on SAAS property, and within the caretaker convention guide”.

Erma Ranieri, SA’s Commissioner for Public Sector Employment

“It is infuriating that the Marshall Liberal government is more concerned about silencing ambos than delayed ambulance responses and the subsequent deaths of members of the community,” Ms Watkins said.

The Advertiser asked eleven questions of the Labor Party, as well as Ms Frier and Ms Madigan, via the union.

There was no response from Ms Frier nor Ms Madigan, who has in the past strongly defended her role on the union campaign.

Labor health spokesman Chris Picton refused to answer questions about the campaign or Ash, but said the Liberals’ attack was “disgraceful”.

Clarification

A previous version of this online story contained a picture caption that incorrectly said Dee Madigan “created the ad campaign”. In fact, she had been involved in an Ambulance Employees Association campaign for more resources. The Advertiser apologises for the error.

The article also stated Dee Madigan was “creator of the infamous ‘Mediscare’ campaign that accused then prime minister Tony Abbott of a privatisation plan”.

It was not intended to suggest she was involved in federal Labor’s 2016 campaign against Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, known as “Mediscare”.

As the print version of the article stated, Ms Madigan was behind the Community and Public Sector Union’s 2014 campaign that accused Mr Abbott of the “backdoor privatisation of Medicare”.

That campaign became the basis of the 2016 Labor campaign unrelated to Ms Madigan’s work.