Palaszczuk Government achieves peace with doctors

The Queensland Government has reached an in-principle agreement with the major unions representing doctors under which they will be offered a new pay deal which guarantees them an annual 2.5 per cent wage rise for the next three years.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said that the Newman Government’s fights with the medical profession had considerably damaged morale among the state’s clinicians, but those days were now over.

“We had the spectacle of thousands of doctors meeting at the Pineapple Hotel to talk about their grievances with the Newman Government and the way they wanted to put doctors on Work Choices style individual contracts,” she said.

“What this government has done is restore collective bargaining with its medical workforce in good faith and achieve an outcome that restores fairness to the system while recognising the professional and personal commitment our doctors make to their patients.”

Health Minister Cameron Dick said that the government had reached agreement with the doctors’ main bargaining bodies- Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation Queensland as well as Together Queensland- about a new enterprise agreement.

He said that under the proposed new certified agreement, doctors working in public hospitals would receive a wage rise of 2.5 per cent for each of the next three years.

The agreement also allows for improved professional development for junior doctors as well as a motor vehicle allowance for part-time doctors.

“We have had 15 meetings with union representatives from AMSOFQ and Together Queensland, and the spirit in these meetings have been co-operative and productive,” Mr Dick said.

“Doctors will shortly have the opportunity to vote on the offer – an offer, which combined with recent changes to legislation, delivers on our government’s commitment to protect our doctors and partner with them to restore confidence in the health system.

“We want to send a clear signal to our workforce that we value them and their work. We will have differences from time to time with unions, but the important thing is that we keep consulting and keep talking to each other.

“We as a government are committed to quality healthcare for Queenslanders, it is a commitment we share with our doctors on the frontline, and it is a commitment we will deliver together.”

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