Joe Hockey's Latest Attack On Nurses Shows Coalition's Desperation, Australia

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 23 Nov 2007 - 2:00 PDT

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Joe Hockey's latest deceptive outburst against the ANF and NSWNA leader Brett Holmes is an act of desperation and a sign of a government in crisis.

In the style that nurses have come to expect Mr Hockey continued to deny nurses were affected by WorkChoices legislation by misrepresenting the truth and vilifying the ANF members and leadership.

ANF Acting Federal Secretary, Ged Kearney, said; "Mr Hockey can give it his best shot - nurses across Australia know the truth, they know that well over 100,000 nurses are impacted directly by WorkChoices. They saw what happened to Victorian nurses in their fight for better pay and conditions - under WorkChoices they were threatened, intimidated and their pay was docked."

The ANF also says Mr Hockey is well aware that particularly in aged care there are many stories of nurses being sacked or offered inferior agreements.

"Under Howard's WorkChoices regime we have seen nurses sacked for standing up for their patients rights; nurses sacked because they are coming up to long service leave; we have seen agreements for nurses which take away nearly all the nurses rights. What would Mr Hockey say to those nurses about their future under a Howard WorkChoices regime?"

The ANF says Mr Hockey is sorely mistaken, ANF membership is growing and the advertising campaign which also ran in South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland and Northern Territory, reflects the reality for nurses under a Coalition government.

"There are 250,000 nurses in Australia with 150,000 members - the ANF has a membership density of 60% and it is growing solidly." Ms Kearney said.

The ANF, representing 150,000 members, is the professional and industrial voice for nurses and midwives in Australia.

Australian Nursing Federation