Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today marks 376 days since the Senate Education and Employment References Committee tabled its final report and recommendations on the mental health of our first responders. 376 days—that's what it took for the government to finally address the critically important recommendations in that report. They are recommendations on how we as a nation can support those who support us and support us all at times of extreme emergency, times of life and death. This report, even though I've only briefly looked at it, is sobering. It drew on testimony from seven public hearings across Australia. The inquiry received 164 submissions, ranging from government departments to NGOs, charities, employee representatives and first responders themselves. First responders told of the strain on their personal mental wellbeing and often that of their families as well. Now, after more than a year, finally we get a government response. This government response only came today after Labor passed a motion in the Senate at the last sitting demanding that they respond. How have they responded to the 14 recommendations in this report? Based on an initial reading, there are a lot of words but not a lot of specific commitments.

Take recommendation 2. This was all about collecting national level data. Collecting data can sound unimportant, until you realise that it can save lives. We know that first responders are more than 10 times more likely, than the national average, to take their own lives. We urgently need a single comparable national dataset of information collected from all states.

Take recommendation 3, which relates to mental health and safety outcomes for the two privatised emergency services in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Recommendation 3 called for the federal, state and territory governments to work together to increase the oversight of privately-owned first-responder organisations. The very important reason why privatised emergency services warranted their own specific recommendation is that the operation of private first responders in Western Australia and the Northern Territory has been extremely problematic. These organisations are much less accountable to governments, to their workers and, therefore, to their patients than government entities are. A decade ago the ABC Four Corners program broadcast an investigation of the St John Ambulance services in Western Australia. In July 2009 paramedics blew the whistle on the workplace practices and systems that they said left patients to die waiting for assistance. Then it was made clear what it was still like today. Nationally coordinated federal and state government oversight is critical to ensuring that private operators comply with the highest-possible standards in supporting their staff and ensuring patient welfare. But again the government seem to be content to take a back seat. They don't want to lead. They want to leave it all to the states.

Take recommendation 4. The government rightly highlights the important work that has been done by beyondblue in designing and developing a good practice framework for mental health and wellbeing in first-responder organisations. But that strategy has to be implemented, and it's not happening fast enough. The devil is in the detail. I hope the government takes seriously the need to speak to all stakeholders, including the unions who represent our first responders on the ground.

Recommendation 8 calls on the government to establish a much-needed national stakeholder working group to assess a national coordinated approach to presumptive legislation covering PTSD and other mental injuries experienced by first responders, with a view to harmonising compensation across jurisdictions. What was the response? You guessed it—'Let's just leave it to the states.'

One year on and the report card for the government on the mental health of our first responders is looking like a C-minus at best. Supporting the mental health of our first responders is a national concern that deserves national attention. It's time this government stood up and took responsibility. Labor will be watching and will stay engaged with this issue. Reform for the health and wellbeing of our first responders is too important to be left languishing for yet another year or more. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.