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MEDIA RELEASE
NEWS, NURSING, AGED CARE, POLITICS
9 February 2010
Abbott misrepresents Nurses’ Union
Assistant Federal Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF), Lee Thomas
said comments by the Federal Opposition Leader made about the union in Federal
Parliament yesterday (3:10pm 8 Feb.) were completely false and should be
corrected.
Ms Thomas said the statement made by Mr Abbott in the Parliament that the nurses
union “says the government’s scheme (Fair Work Act) is worse than Workchoices..”
has never been made by an official of the Australian Nursing Federation.
“In a speech about being honest with the Australian people he put words in the
mouths of nurses that we never said.
“This statement then must be corrected or he has misled the Australian Parliament,”
Ms Thomas said.
“The ANF was very active in the “Your rights at work campaign” during the last
Federal election because nurses were committed to getting rid of WorkChoices.
“The stripping back of awards and the introduction of Australian workplace
agreements under WorkChoices threatened to undermine the wages and conditions
of nurses across the entire health system.
“To compare award modernisation to WorkChoices is like comparing a bit of cough to
getting pneumonia.
“There is no doubt aged care nurses are disappointed with the decision on salary
rates made by Fair Work Australia in establishing the new Federal award for aged
care nurses.
“Our appeal against the decision of the independent umpire was supported by the
Federal Government.
“While the decision was not what we hoped for it should be acknowledged the
support the Rudd Government has provided to our case,” Ms Thomas said.
Lee Thomas Assistant Federal Secretary
0419 576 590
The ANF, with 170,000 members, is the professional and industrial voice for nurses and midwives in
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