The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) says its members are flabbergasted at what they say is a “business as usual approach that the Tasmanian government are taking to the Tasmanian health system.”
ANMF Tasmanian Branch Secretary Emily Shepherd has shared the growing frustration among members.
She said government claims about net staff increases do not reflect the reality on the ground.
“While the government boasts about the net additional nurses and midwives that they have recruited and that it is a net increase compared to those who have left.”
“What it doesn’t address is the insufficient staffing levels on many wards and units every shift right across the state,” she said.
Shepherd said some workplaces remain almost 40 staff short of the numbers needed to safely fill rosters.
“The ANMF heard from members at the Royal Hobart Hospital just last week about instances where they were coming onto shift with 6-8 staff short of their safe staffing minimum,” she said.
Shepherd said the states emergency departments last week were almost all at critical capacity, with the Launceston General Hospital (LGH) experiencing a full department over the weekend.
“When members are seeing patients on trolleys parked in makeshift wards in ambulance off load bays as occurred at the LGH over the weekend, many members are feeling incredibly disillusioned,” she said.
Government minister Jo Palmer rejected the criticism, saying funding for health has been at record levels over a number of years.
“We’ve certainly seen record funding right across health over a number of years now, extraordinary funding like we’ve never seen before,” Palmer said.
“No government ever before has invested what our government is investing into the health system and we keep working on ways that we can see better outcomes for all Tasmanians,” she said.
Palmer pointed to last week’s announcement by health minister Bridget Archer.
“Just last week, our Health Minister, Bridget Archer, was out announcing a further 150 nurses. In fact, I believe it’s more than 150 nurses, that will be coming into our health system, which is really great.”
The announcement, made on 19 August, related to 164 full-time equivalent nursing and midwifery positions recruited across the 2025-26 financial year, along with 73 additional full-time equivalent doctors.
Shadow Health Minister Sarah Lovell said Labor welcomes the government’s decision to finally adopt the position frontline staff and unions have been advocating for over the last decade.
However, she said it is “a long overdue response to a problem the Liberals have let fester for years” and comes “nowhere close to addressing the monumental mess 13 years of Liberal waste has created.”
Lovell said “our healthcare professionals are still raising serious concerns they can no longer reliably provide the level of care patients need in a safe, timely and appropriate way.”
She called on Premier Jeremy Rockliff, Treasurer Eric Abetz and Health Minister Archer to explain how $700 million in health cuts will improve anything.
“Tasmania’s healthcare system cannot take $700 million in cuts,” she said.
Shepherd welcomed the government’s shift toward employing permanent staff rather than agency workers, a position the union has long advocated.
However, she said the job is “far from finished” and members want genuine action on what she described as chronic and systemic issues.
The ANMF said it will continue to support members through ongoing safe staffing disputes in the Tasmanian Industrial Commission.
