Tasmanian doctors warn of potential industrial action amid pay standoff with state government

Doctors working in Tasmania’s public health system have overwhelmingly rejected a new pay offer from the state government, threatening potential industrial action.

Royal Hobart Hospital.

Doctors are warning of a “catastrophic” exodus of medicos from Tasmania’s public health system, foreshadowing potential industrial action if the state government does not meet their terms for a new enterprise bargaining agreement.

The Australian Medical Association’s Tasmanian branch has been locked in negotiations with the government over the three-year award – due to commence from July 2023 – since early last year.

AMA Tasmania lead negotiator, Dr Michael Lumsden-Steel, said the government had offered salaried medical practitioners working in the public system pay rises of 3.5 per cent in the first year of the agreement and 3 per cent in each of the successive years.

They have also proposed to roll allowances into doctors’ base salaries, including a cost of living payment worth about $1000.

Dr Lumsden-Steel said the AMA had put the offer to doctors who would be covered by the agreement and 97 per cent had voted to reject it.

“Because we’re not [offering] competitive [packages], doctors are just leaving and we are at the cusp of having an implosion of our junior doctor workforce,” he said.

AMA Tasmania spokesperson Dr Michael Lumsden-Steel outside The Royal Hobart Hospital. Picture: Linda Higginson

“And the impacts of this are catastrophic. The impact of this is [worse] patient care and the impact of this is a massive financial cost for which it doesn’t take one year to recover from – it takes years to rebuild the health service.”

The standoff between the peak doctors’ body and the government comes after Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) CEO Susan Gannon resigned last week after accepting a position in Queensland. Launceston General Hospital CEO Jen Duncan also resigned last month, while North West Regional Hospital CEO Eric Daniels is soon set to retire.

Dr Lumsden-Steel, who works as an anaesthetist at the RHH, said the base salary for junior doctors in Tasmania was between $5000-15,000 less than what was offered in Victoria.

The AMA has presented a counter offer to the government, demanding a more competitive package.

“If, unfortunately, we don’t see there being an appropriate and serious counter offer that comes back to us, then I can foreshadow that the hospital doctors will be having discussions around starting … a bit of public protest action, potentially as early as next week,” he said.

Dr Lumsden-Steel said that while doctors wanted to negotiate “in good faith”, they may be forced to pursue industrial action if the situation doesn’t improve.

This would likely take the form of work-to-rule measures, which would see medical professionals strictly adhere to their contract of employment and refuse to do any work not specified in their contract.

A Health Department spokesman said the government acknowledged “the important role that salaried medical practitioners play across our health system”.

“We are involved in a negotiation process with the [AMA] on the terms of a new enterprise agreement for salaried medical practitioners,” he said. “We are continuing to work constructively with them during the negotiations.”

Originally published as Tasmanian doctors warn of potential industrial action amid pay standoff with state government