Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Leader
For a healthy, inclusive lutruwita/Tasmania, that genuinely leaves no one behind, we need a strong, well-resourced and valued public service. No Tasmanian should be without help in a crisis, yet too many are after nine years of the Liberals in government.
Nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, teachers, bus drivers, support workers and on the list goes of Tasmanians without whom the fabric of our society would rapidly unravel.
Across these professions, attracting and retaining staff is increasingly becoming a serious issue.
State servants are overworked, and paid significantly less than their mainland counterparts. There’s no coherent strategy to keep workers on the island. This is resulting in poorer health and education outcomes, and it’s leading to worsening results in child safety.
The Greens’ plan moves Tasmanians towards pay parity, transitioning essential public servant awards to be equal to their mainland counterparts. We would also develop and implement a retention and recruitment plan to ensure Tasmania’s public service can sustainably deliver essential services.
We know from the Commission of Inquiry that major funding needs to be invested to make a tangible, lasting difference to Tasmania’s most at risk children. Our plan includes $30 million a year for an additional 200 child safety officers and extra resourcing for the advice and referral line.
Our plan tackles the desperate need in education by recruiting 50 school psychologists, 40 social workers, 70 speech pathologists, 30 education support specialists. We would remove principals from the school staffing allocation, and employing 195 additional teachers.
Nurses and paramedics are the glue in Tasmania’s hospitals, but there are too few to meet demand. Our plan tackles this critical health shortage by investing in 815 new nursing staff, and 224 new paramedics and ambulance staff.
Under the Liberals, essential workers are leaving Tasmania to work in other states where salaries are higher, work environments are better resourced and burnout is lower.
We want to make sure our essential workers feel both valued and supported. We want to keep them here and attract more skilled people to our shores.
The Greens’ plan attracts and retains the essential workers who hold the fabric of our society together. It ensures all Tasmanians can get the services they need and deserve, when they need them.
You can read our plan to Retain Essential Workers here – https://tasmps.greens.org.au/policy/retaining-essential-workers
You can read our full Alternative Budget here – https://tasmps.greens.org.au/policy/alternative-budget-2023-24