Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

Today, I rise to take note of the government's response to the Senate Education and Employment References Committee report into the role of Commonwealth, state and territory governments in addressing the high rates of mental health conditions experienced by first responders, emergency service workers and volunteers. The report was titled The people behind 000: mental health of our first responders. I'm grateful that the government has finally got around to responding to the first responders—albeit, more than a year after the committee responded to the Senate, on 14 February.

It was the pending anniversary of the tabling of that report, and my conversations with Senator Urquhart about not wanting to leave behind the really valuable work that was done because so many people had fought so hard to get this issue on the table, that reminded me that it was high time to hold this government to account for its lack of response. I note that the government's response is somewhat considered, but it is in other areas, I believe, inadequate. I know that all of those who gave evidence to the inquiry, who fought for this inquiry, will be talking to members of this place about whether they believe the government's response is adequate. I want to place on record my thanks and appreciation to all of the organisations that made submissions to the inquiry and my gratitude to all of those who've had experiences that would have been quite emotionally hard to articulate in terms of going out of their way to bring that evidence before the committee.

Our nation's first responders show their bravery in their work day in, day out. They do this for their employment and they do this because they care, and they demonstrated that commitment in their submissions to the inquiry. The union in WA previously known as United Voice, now the United Workers Union, cover paramedics, communications and first aid officers at St John Ambulance in WA. They said in their submission to the inquiry:

… ambulance officers are inherently exposed to traumatic and often dangerous incidents on a daily basis, throughout their entire careers. Such incidents may include witnessing the result of violent crimes such as sexual and other assaults, victims of road trauma, suicides and horrific accidents.

They also note that, less obvious stresses include the 'unpredictability of working with the public and the increase in violence against on road staff'.

My dear friend and colleague Mr Mark Folkard MLA made a contribution to the inquiry in his private capacity and bravely used his experience as a former police officer and spoke about the fact that he suffers PTSD. He used those experiences in suffering from PTSD to inform the contribution he made to the committee. I won't reflect on all those experiences here, but he did say that he did not wish for his contribution to be confidential as PTSD needs to be out in the open. We need to keep it out in the open and respond to those needs in the community. We need to heed the call of all the brave people that gave evidence to the inquiry.

Of course this brings to mind the trauma that some of our first responders in firefighting professions and as volunteers will be grappling with following the bushfires that have devastated the very places where these people live and where lives have been lost. I note that the government has committed funding for mental health support of bushfire affected communities and first responders. Recommendation 3 of the Senate committee was that federal, state and territory governments work together to increase oversight of privately owned first responder organisations. This is very salient to the situation of St John Ambulance officers. We might expect, when we conceptualise first responders, that they all work for the state. But they don't. In the case of ambulance officers, in this example they work for not-for-profit organisations. In other cases you've got volunteer firefighting organisations that might be incorporated in their own way.

While the government noted the recommendation asking for that cooperation, they said, 'All first responder organisations, privately owned or not, are subject to oversight by the work, health and safety regulator in their jurisdiction.' I have to say that I find this response manifestly disappointing. The government has only noted a recommendation that simply asks for cooperation between jurisdictions to better support first responders in private organisations. The fact that private organisations and those first responders who work for them are currently missing out was indeed a manifest driver for the need for this inquiry, because in many instances they don't have the same entitlements or rights as other first responders who work directly for the state.

I note that the government has been supportive of the committee's recommendations in broad terms, but I will be watching with great interest and dedication the implementation of new or ongoing measures that the government has alluded to in this report. I think it did announce money for a strategy. I had a quick look to see if there was anything already on record about a mental health strategy for first responders. I hope this is a new commitment to that strategy. But I also hope that you've been thinking about this and not making it up on the run.

I look forward to continuing to consult with affected individuals, groups, unions and agencies on all of these matters, and I give a shout out to everyone who made contributions to that inquiry to please get your hands on the government's response and reach out to Labor senators. We're more than happy to help you find your way to the response and to help you examine it.