Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Following on from Senator Gallagher's contribution, I would like to pay tribute to Rosemary Follett and the contribution that she's made to politics, not just in the ACT but around the Commonwealth of Australia.

While I'm on my feet, I'd also like to reflect briefly on what was a weak and, essentially, incoherent defence of the indefensible from Senator Stoker. She said about the CPAC conference that she didn't know who was coming but she looked forward to meeting them. Well, we know quite a bit about who is coming, and I'm quite worried that Senator Stoker looks forward to meeting them. What they have to contribute to Australian conservative politics is beyond me. It's not crass; it's misogynistic and violent. One of them is a Holocaust denier. Obfuscation by weak comparisons is no defence, and I think that Senator Stoker should reflect overnight on whether or not she's defending the indefensible—and not get into the corner and try to fight her way out, but reflect on whether it's actually the right thing for the Australian people, to be encouraging racism and violence and ultra-right politics. There's a more colloquial expression that I won't use in this chamber, but I do think that you're judged by the company that you keep.

I rise this evening really to indicate my support for—and I think that the Senate should also support—the thousands of members of the Health Services Union of New South Wales who are going on strike tomorrow to attend a four-hour stop-work meeting, because of concerns about safety in public hospitals. It's not a wage dispute, although they've got every right to be angry about their wages. It's not a dispute about their hours or about staffing levels in public hospitals, although they've got every right to be angry about those issues. They are on strike because public hospitals in New South Wales have never been more dangerous: more dangerous for staff, and more dangerous for the community who use them. The HSU has had members stabbed and shot, and the safety of patients, staff and visitors is constantly put at risk. The response from the New South Wales government, of course, is to hold another review, after a previous review in 2016 that made no progress with the deep-seated safety issues that they face.

Public hospitals should be safe places—safe for staff and safe for patients. The HSU has a plan. It has a legitimate set of grievances. It is a tough thing to do. It is a brave thing to do, to go on strike to go to a stop-work meeting. It's something that the New South Wales government has been actively opposing. It is, I would add, something that in the Commonwealth public sector is not lawful, and I think that's a real problem with our democracy. But I want to congratulate those thousands of members of the Health Services Union who are taking a stand for public health, public hospitals and safety.