Eight experienced paramedics have made the move to Tasmania from mainland states, drawn by the island’s natural beauty and the chance to come home.
The recruits from New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory will be deployed across the state once they complete their training, helping to fill 78 positions promised at the last election.
For some, the move represents a homecoming after being forced to seek work interstate.
Kahlia Rawlings, originally from Launceston, left Tasmania to complete her graduate year in the Northern Territory after she couldn’t secure a local position.
“I didn’t really want to leave Tassie. Tassie’s home and all my family are here,” she said.
Henry Garrad, who studied at the University of Tasmania before working in Victoria and the NT, said returning was always part of the plan.
“I love the wilderness and spending time in this beautiful state,” he said.
Jenna Denley, a paramedic of 15 years moving from the Northern Territory into an operations supervisor role in the north-west, said Tasmania’s appeal was obvious.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “I’m originally from Canberra, so I’m also now a lot closer to home again.”
Ambulance Tasmania interim chief executive Michelle Baxter said recruitment efforts were paying off in a competitive national market, with more than 200 applications received for graduate positions.
“Our staffing numbers are looking pretty healthy,” she said. “We’ve still got a little ways to go in some of the regions.”
“We find through our recruitment campaigns that we get a healthy number applying, especially with the graduate paramedics coming out … we get quite a few hundred applicants.”
Baxter said the latest recruitment represented a net gain, with additional positions in Hobart and Glenorchy expected to be filled by February.
Three of the new arrivals will work in the south, three in the north-west and two in the north.
