Qld election 2024: Campbell Newman blamed for nursing burnout rate

The state nurses’ union has blamed the actions of the Newman government a full decade ago for health staff now feeling tired and wanting to quit the profession. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Premier Steven Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman on Wednesday. Picture: Adam Head

The state nurses’ union has blamed the actions of the Newman government a full decade ago for health staff now feeling tired and wanting to quit the profession.

Labor-aligned Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union state secretary Sarah Beaman made the sensational claim on Wednesday, saying half of members had told the union they were exhausted as she praised Premier Steven Miles’s plan to attract 15,000 new health workers before 2028.

Ms Beaman said her members made clear in a recent survey they were overworked and tired, with half saying they would soon leave the profession.

Despite the bleak picture, the union secretary said it was largely due to Campbell Newman’s LNP government, which has not been in power since early 2015, and said Labor deserved a fourth term.

Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union state secretary Sarah Beaman

“When I was working in Queensland Health… the LNP cut graduate placements,” she said.

“That impact of those cuts actually put a dent in the workforce planning for the next 10 years.

“Since 2015 it has taken us the better part of this period of time, right up until Covid, to get the workforce levels where it needed to be, and then Covid happened and we saw what was a retiring workforce exacerbated by looking to leave.”

The QNMU is due to negotiate a new wages deal with the government, whichever party wins, next year.

She is pushing for a payrise beyond the 2.5 per cent budgeted for by the state government in June.

“It’s absolutely critically important,” she said.

“The pay is not just about what is in your pocket.

“Everyone’s experiencing the cost-of-living crisis. It’s a combination of being able to have the funds to be able to live, but also being able to be remunerated appropriately.

“The government does have a wages policy and we will fight really, really hard to make sure that that government wages policy is at a level that allows people to have a real pay rise.”

Mr Miles conceded the government would be open to an increase beyond inflation but argued public servants would be paid better under Labor.

“We’ll have to see the circumstances when we set that wages policy as you know, inflation is now abating,” he said.

“The most recent inflation figure was 2.7 per cent.”

“We have a long and proud history of bargaining in good faith with our employees and their union representatives and delivering them strong EBAs.”

Former Queensland premier Campbell Newman. Picture: File

Mr Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman made the comments at an announcement Labor would deliver 15,000 new frontline and support health staff over the next four years if elected on October 26.

The $30m commitment will be funded by borrowings.

Ms Fentiman denied the workforce announcement was a renouncement of the strategy from the government’s June budget.

“What we put in our workforce strategy was that we were going to need 46,000 workers and we’re committed to that to 2032 but today we’re here giving you the exact numbers of the doctors, the nurses, the allied health professionals, the operational staff that we need to keep our hospitals running, and the admin staff for the next four years,” she said.

Originally published as Qld election 2024: Campbell Newman blamed for nursing burnout rate