15 November 2021
Outraged South Australian union leaders gathered at the ANMF (SA Branch) headquarters today to condemn the Marshall Government’s latest health propaganda campaign.
ANMF (SA Branch) CEO/Secretary Adj Associate Professor Elizabeth Dabars AM called the adverts “completely laughable and unrealistic’’, capturing the sentiments of all parties present, namely the ANMF, SASMOA, SA Unions, the Health Services Union, the Ambulance Employees Association, the United Workers Union, Professionals Australia and Public Service Association.
Speaking at a joint press conference attended by all four major Adelaide TV stations - Ms Dabars denounced the adverts – estimated to have cost $1 million - as “a shameful waste of taxpayers’ money”.
“The utopian fantasy that shows in these videos, it looks like a Disney movie, but the reality is it’s more like a horror show,’’ she said.
“We know from talking to nurses and midwives that they are stressed, pressured and constantly under the pump, the system looks nothing like they show in these adverts.
“These ads do not go to employ one extra nurse, one extra midwife, they do not provide one extra bed into the system. They are purely and simply political propaganda at taxpayer expense, so it’s absolutely disgusting and shameful that they are putting these ads on air while at the same time our nurses and midwives cannot care for our community.
“We know the system is in crisis point in terms of fatigue. Nurses and midwives are certainly not seeing anything like these adverts in their real-world environment. We know that nurses and midwives are working 16-hour shifts, even 18-hour shifts, which are double shifts, in order to provide for the community that they are serving, to make sure that their shifts can be filled,’’ Ms Dabars said.
“So the reality is at the moment people are working so pressured that they really feel they can’t go on and they are looking to leave, so while this advert campaign says they are putting more staff in, we know that they are already running really short. CALHN alone, they’ve got around 300 nursing midwifery vacancies.
“These adverts actually do nothing to put in place better care and better services, they actually have the potential to take that away because of the expense attached.
“We are actually very concerned about the capacity to deal with the COVID issues that are going to come into the state shortly. I don’t think they (the Government) should be lulling people into a false sense of security because the system is already at crisis point and we are deeply concerned about how the system will be able to handle the additional pressures come COVID,’’ Ms Dabars said.
“They should invest the money that they are putting into these ads into real hands-on care, real people, real beds, in a way that can and would make a difference to our community. These adverts add nothing.
“For most people who either work in the health system or have experienced the health system in recent times, these adverts are completely laughable and completely unrealistic.’’