Minister welcomes new ambulance officers to Mackay region

Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts today welcomed three interstate and overseas paramedics recruited into the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) through its successful Seachange program.

Mackay officers Sharon Reilly and Simon Bowden both migrated from the United Kingdom, while Jason Callanan has moved from Victoria.

Mr Roberts said the Seachange program has already seen 59 fully qualified paramedics take up positions with the QAS so far this year.

“The Queensland government has committed to increasing staffing levels in the QAS, including recruiting an additional 250 officers this financial year,” he said.

“We need to balance our recruiting between graduates and experienced personnel, so the Seachange program targets fully trained paramedics from other jurisdictions and entices them to move to Queensland.

“These paramedics come from ambulance services whose training and requirements are very similar to our own, so only a short induction period is needed before they’re ready to begin working with the QAS.”

“I welcome Sharon, Simon and Jason to Queensland and to the QAS, and wish them a long and successful career here in the Sunshine State.”

Mr Roberts said interviews with more than 100 candidates from the United Kingdom were due to end this week.

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