Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

[by video link] No doubt the last two years have been challenging. But, in the spirit of optimism, I would also like to think that they've presented some opportunities. One of those is a chance to reflect on what we value as a society—a recalibration of what's important to us.

Today, thousands of nurses are striking in NSW. Nurses and healthcare workers have been praised throughout the pandemic as the frontline heroes in the fight against COVID. But, given that status, what does the fact that they're out there striking say about how we treat our heroes? We can stand here in this parliament and praise them all we like, but the fact is that our words don't improve their patient ratio and our words, without action, don't take the stress and anguish off their shoulders. They are only words and tokenism at best.

Nurses aren't demanding change for themselves. They are doing it because they understand and they know, and they fear for the safety of their patients. I stand next to those nurses as they demand better conditions for themselves in order to deliver better conditions for their patients. Any government that ignores the pleas of nurses today does so at their own peril.

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