Federal Election insert

lamp THE MAGAZINE OF THE NSW NURSES AND MIDWIVES’ ASSOCIATION

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

VOTE AND SHOW YOU CARE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH Print Post Approved: PP100007890

NURSES AND MIDWIVES VOTE JULY 2016

CONTENTS 04

06

08

A disastrous three years for public health

Medicare co-payment reintroduced by stealth

Penalty rates under fire

10

12

14

Raw deal for older Australians

Women and the low paid still need more super

A stark difference on tackling climate change

16

18

20

A better tax system needed for a better society

Taking our classrooms backwards

Border Force Act silences health workers

PUBLIC HEALTH FUNDING

AGED CARE

TAX

MEDICARE

SUPERANNUATION

EDUCATION

PENALTY RATES

CLIMATE CHANGE

BORDER FORCE ACT

BE COUNTED HAVE YOUR SAY ON ELECTION DAY 2 | THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

Vote and show you care for public health This special edition of The Lamp looks at the election issues that impact on nurses and midwives and the positions of the major parties on those issues.

“I would urge you to engage your friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues about what is happening to our health system.”

Brett Holmes, General Secretary

The NSWNMA would like the quality and level of public services, especially public health and aged care, and how we pay for them, to be the defining issues of this election.

The massive funding cuts to public hospitals and preventative health over the last three years will seriously undermine our public health system in future years unless they are reversed.

Aged care too has been the target of unjustifiable cuts that will jeopardise its viability.

After the harsh and manifestly unfair 2014 budget and the two years of Tony Abbott’s leadership that followed many people were hoping and expecting a significant change in direction from Malcolm Turnbull.

In terms of policies, that has not happened.

If anything there has been a seamless continuity between Abbott and Turnbull on substantive matters.

Malcolm Turnbull has not rolled back Abbott’s debilitating cuts to public health and aged care. In fact he has added to them.

His attitude to penalty rates and workers’ rights is no different from his predecessor.

His willingness to accommodate the big end of town at the expense of working people is consistent with that of Abbott.

The 2016 budget was an opportunity to tackle corporate tax avoidance and tax concessions that benefit the already wealthy.

They cost the government billions of dollars a year that could fund public schools and hospitals.

According to The Treasury of the Australian Government, Australia is already one of the lowest taxing countries in the OECD. To have world-class health and education, and other public services we need to collect the revenue to fund them.

Mr Turnbull has squibbed on this important challenge.

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE The cuts to funding of public health are of crucial importance to our professions.

We will not be able to do our jobs as nurses and midwives to the standards we want and that the public want and deserve unless they are reversed.

Nurses and midwives have a respected voice on health. I would urge you to get involved over the next month leading up to the election and engage your friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues about what is happening to our health system.

By getting involved you can make a difference.

And when you enter the voting booth this election I would ask you to match your values and beliefs to the policies on offer and to give priority to the issues that affect your patients and residents, our public health system and aged care, your profession and your job.

THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE | 3

NURSES AND MIDWIVES VOTE JULY 2016 PUBLIC HEALTH FUNDING

A disastrous three years for public health The Coalition started it’s term in office with a massive attack on public hospitals. Malcolm Turnbull has kept nearly all of Tony Abbott’s cuts to public hospital funding and added more of his own to preventative health.

Tony Abbott took $57 billion out of future public hospital funding in his first budget in 2014.

The cuts to public hospital funding have been roundly condemned by health experts and even

by Liberal state premiers. NSW Premier Mike Baird made it clear to the Sydney Morning Herald what the consequences of the cuts would be: “The impact is at the front line. We have tried to be as efficient as we possibly can. You are getting down to the position when you take away that money, it is taking away from the front line,’’ he said.

In his first full budget in May, Malcom Turnbull put back $2.9 billion. Significantly, he has kept the rest of Abbott’s cuts.

TURNBULL HAS ADDED HIS OWN CUTS TO ABBOTT’S Turnbull has made $4.2 billion in additional cuts of his own to the health budget since he became Prime Minister. $2.1 billion was cut in the May budget on top of $2.1 billion that was slashed in December’s mid-year review.

Nearly a billion dollars has been taken from preventative health programs tackling drug and alcohol abuse, chronic disease, and rural health.

The Abbott/Turnbull government has consistently justified the cuts by saying health spending is spiraling out of control. Yet: • Australia’s public spending on health as a proportion of GDP is below the OECD average. Between 2005-06 and 2015-16 the Commonwealth Government’s total health expenditure as a percentage of the total Commonwealth Budget fell by 2.29 per cent or around $10 billion.

• Our out of pocket costs for health services are amongst the highest in the OECD. While CPI rose only 1.3 per cent for the year to March 2015, health costs rose by 4.6 per cent.

CUTS AS DEMAND RISES The Australian Medical Association (AMA) argues that Abbott and Turnbull’s cuts are even more drastic when population growth, population ageing, health workforce wage increases and the cost of new technologies are factored in.

It says: “expert economic opinion indicates that anything less than an increase of 7 per cent would be a cut in real terms.

“Demand for public hospital services is growing faster than ever before but hospital capacity and bed numbers as a proportion of population are not improving. Between 2010 and 2014 the number of presentations at emergency departments increased by 320,000.”

This demand will be exacerbated by the cuts to Medicare (see pages 6-7).

PUBLIC HOSPITAL FUNDING’S BLACK HOLE

Commonwealth funding cuts to NSW public hospitals $BILLION

THE DIRE CONSEQUENCES ARE ALREADY STARTING TO SHOW Even though the worst consequences of the cuts will not be felt until after 2017 the AMA’s Public Hospital Report Card 2016 shows that our public hospitals are already showing signs of stress: • Bed numbers have deteriorated.

• Waiting times are largely static, with only very minor improvement.

• Emergency Department (ED) waiting times have worsened.

• The percentage of ED patients treated in four hours is well below target.

45 40 35 OLD SPENDING ARRANGEMENT BEFORE CUTS

25 20 15 NEW SPENDING ARRANGEMENT AFTER CUTS 2012-13

4 | THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE

30

2016-17

10 5 2020-21

2024-25 0

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON PUBLIC HEALTH FUNDING “We can’t do our jobs appropriately and safely because government funding has been cut.”

Coalition $57 billion taken out of public hospital growth funding in its first budget.

– JESSICA HOUSTON, RN

$2.9 billion returned this year.

Since Malcolm Turnbull became PM there has been $4.2 billion in cuts to public health Including to community programs and preventative health programs that affect the most vulnerable in our community.

The impact is at the front line.

You are getting down to the position when you take away that money, it is taking away from the front line.

Nearly a billion dollars cut from preventative health.

Labor

NSW Premier Mike Baird

Promised to fund hospitals to ‘a far greater level than what the Turnbull government is doing’.

Despite claims that the cost of health is spiraling out of control, the proportion of total NSW Budget expenditure on Health has remained consistent over 10 years

How Commonwealth funding cuts will impact NSW public hospitals $BILLION

%

4.7

28.0 27.5

3.7

26.9

27.6 27.6

27.3

27.0 27.0 27.0 26.4

Strongly criticised the health cuts but is yet to announce if they will roll back all of them.

Said the $30 billion saved from their changes to negative gearing and from a reduction in capital gains tax concessions will be ploughed into health and education.

The Greens Will phase out the private health insurance rebate – $5 billion a year – and invest the savings in the public health system.

3.1

2.2 1.9

Promised to reverse the $57 billion health funding cuts from the 2014 budget.

1.2 0.3

0.6

2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25

2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE | 5

NURSES AND MIDWIVES VOTE JULY 2016 MEDICARE

Medicare co-payment reintroduced by stealth Patients will be forced to pay more for vital services including GP consultations, diagnostic imaging and pathology under a re-elected Turnbull government.

Malcolm Turnbull’s May Budget slashed spending on Medicare over the next four years.

Two measures alone – freezing indexation for Medicare rebates and removing or amending rebateable items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) – will take about one billion dollars from Medicare until 2020.

General Secretary of the NSWNMA, Brett Holmes, described the Medicare freeze as a Medicare co-payment by stealth.

“This will have a similar effect to the $7 GP co-payment that Tony Abbott tried and failed to introduce,” he said.

“It will increase the pressure on GPs to drop bulk billing and charge additional fees.

“We are witnessing the deliberate dismantling of the system that has delivered fair and efficient healthcare in Australia for 30 years.”

PREGNANT WOMEN DISADVANTAGED The latest Budget measures come on top of the government’s $630 million cut to bulk-billing incentives to pathologists and radiologists.

As a result patients are likely to pay more for vital preventive and diagnostic tests such as pap smears, MRIs, X-Rays and CT Scans.

These cuts will hit pregnant women, cancer patients and the chronically ill the hardest, Brett said.

“It’s clear from the Budget that this government is offering no assistance for health and will happily have patients pay for services that should be covered by their taxes.

“People won’t know what hit them when we reach July and the pathology company suddenly starts asking them to hand over their credit card.”

The NSWNMA is campaigning to defend Medicare in alliance with the Save Medicare organisation, the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) and Unions NSW. 6 | THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners also opposes the government’s decision to continue to freeze current rebates.

The college is asking patients to tell their local MP to support an “adequately funded worldclass health system”, including an immediate lift of the freeze.

“The RACGP wants this campaign to reveal which candidates are publicly committed to protecting Medicare, and which ones aren’t,” president of the College, Dr Frank Jones, said.

MEDICARE PAYMENT SYSTEM TO BE PRIVATISED Early this year it was revealed the government planned to privatise the Medicare payments system.

The lucrative outsourcing deal would see the government subsidise the private sector to process Medicare payments.

This would put the highly sensitive medical and financial records of all Australians into private hands and would threaten thousands of jobs, particularly in regional Australia, said the deputy secretary of the CPSU, Melissa Donnelly.

Within a few days, more than 50,000 Australians signed onto a campaign to stop the privatisation launched by the independent community campaigning group GetUp. It described the government’s plan as “the Americanisation of Medicare.”

“The leaked proposal would hand $50 billion in public health services over to corporate interests.

For-profit companies would call the shots on who is eligible to receive publicly funded care – just like in the USA,” GetUp said.

“This brings us one step closer to a profit driven, US style user pays system that denies people access to life saving health care because they can’t afford it.”

$630m The government’s cut to bulk-billing incentives to pathologists and radiologists

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON MEDICARE

“Nurses and midwives say hands off Medicare!”

– KERRY RODGERS, NUM

Labor Will restore indexation of the Medicare Benefits Schedule from January 2017.

Opposes privatisation of Medicare.

Promises to legislate to “protect Medicare”.

Freezing indexation for Medicare rebates and removing or amending rebateable items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) – will take about one billion dollars from Medicare until 2020.

Opposes government’s cuts to bulkbilling incentives for diagnostic imaging and pathology.

The Greens Oppose privatisation of Medicare.

Will vote in the Senate to disallow regulations that reduce bulk-billing incentives for diagnostic imaging and pathology.

Coalition Cut $630 million from bulk-billing incentives for diagnostic imaging and pathology services.

The cuts to pathology have since been delayed for 3 months.

Cut $925.3 million by extending the freeze on indexation of Medicare Benefit schedules to 2020.

Privatised Medibank Private.

Plan to privatise Medicare payments system.

THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE | 7

NURSES AND MIDWIVES VOTE JULY 2016 PENALTY RATES

Penalty rates under fire The future of penalty rates is a defining issue in the lead-up to the federal election.

The campaign to cut the wages of weekend workers has sharply divided the political parties seeking your vote next month.

The Liberal government has been under intense pressure from its business supporters to deliver cuts with Prime Minister Turnbull saying weekend penalty rates belong to an outdated economy.

“The only reason they’re different, I assume, is history,” Turnbull told radio station 3AW. “I think over time you will see a move to a more flexible workplace.”

The Greens and Labor oppose any cut in penalty rates.

“Penalty rates are not a luxury; they are what pays the bills and puts food on the table for the 4.5 million Australians who rely on them,” said Labor leader Bill Shorten.

“Many people, especially young workers, rely on penalty rates to earn a living wage,” said The Greens industrial relations spokesperson, Adam Bandt.

Turnbull’s predecessor Tony Abbott commissioned a Productivity Commission report which recommended reducing Sunday rates to the same level as Saturday rates for workers in cafes, restaurants, hospitality, entertainment and retailing.

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Dave Oliver said the Productivity Commission recommendations, if adopted, would create “a second-class group of workers in the hospitality and retail sector”.

A RAID ON PEOPLE’S WAGES “There is no evidence to show that cutting penalty rates increases employment or productivity – it is simply a raid on people’s wages that will create an underclass of working poor,” he said.

The Fair Work Commission is now considering the Productivity Commission recommendations.

8 | THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE

In May last year, the Commission cut Sunday penalty rates for tens of thousands of casual restaurant and cafe staff. The judgment meant that the loading for working on Sundays dropped from 75 to 50 per cent for some casual workers.

NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association General Secretary, Brett Holmes, said that despite recommending penalty rates be maintained for essential services, the Productivity Commission had failed to identify whether nurses employed in the aged care sector would be shielded.

“It might be the shop assistants’ or baristas’ penalty rates under attack today, but it won’t be long before nurses and midwives’ penalty rates are under threat,” Brett warned.

“We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with workers in other industries in fighting for their penalty rates to compensate for the unsociable hours they must work.

BUSINESS GROUPS WANT TO GO MUCH FURTHER Business groups have made it clear the campaign against penalty rates is the launching pad for a series of attacks on Australian working conditions.

The government ordered the Productivity Commission inquiry after intense lobbying by employer groups such as the Business Council of Australia.

As Ewin Hannan, industrial reporter for the Australian Financial Review, wrote: “It is evident the Business Council is proposing far-reaching changes to the rules governing how Australians work.”

Hannan noted that if the BCA got its way, by 2020, “the award system would virtually disappear, many workers would receive less pay, and companies would have greater scope to impose change in the workplace without having to negotiate with employees, let alone unions.”

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON PENALTY RATES

“Cutting penalty rates is still on the government’s radar and health care is not immune.”

– BEN BRADY, CNS

The Greens Oppose any attempt to cut weekend penalty rates.

Say penalty rates are recognition of the unsociable hours that many people work.

Coalition IF SUNDAY PENALTY RATES WERE CUT TO SATURDAY LEVELS:

$1,767

Commissioned a Productivity Commission Inquiry that recommended reducing Sunday penalty rates.

A registered nurse in a NSW public hospital would lose $1,767 per year or 1.9 per cent of gross pay.

The Liberal Party platform is silent on penalty rates.

$1,573 An enrolled nurse in a NSW public hospital working “average hours” would lose $1,573 per year or 2.59 per cent of gross pay.

$1,399 The loss for an Assistant in Nursing in an aged care facility working a full time equivalent of 38 hours per week, would total $1,399 per year or 2.59 per cent of gross wages.

Prime Minister Turnbull has indicated changes are desirable.

Labour Opposes any attempt to cut weekend penalty rates.

Says penalty rates should continue to be a fundamental part of a strong safety net for Australian workers.

Argues that cutting wages of low-paid workers will reduce their spending power and therefore negatively impact the economy.

Source: McKell Institute

THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE | 9

NURSES AND MIDWIVES VOTE JULY 2016 AGED CARE

Raw deal for older Australians One of the first acts of the Coalition government on assuming office was to torpedo a modest wage increase for aged care workers. Things have been going downhill for aged care ever since.

The Gillard Labor government granted a $1.2 billion Workforce Supplement that would have given a one per cent wage increase over and above any other increases negotiated with employers in the aged care sector.

It would have led to modest pay increases for more than 200,000 aged care workers.

The ‘Aged Care Compact’, as it was known, recognised the need to make aged care jobs more attractive in view of projected workforce shortages.

Within weeks of attaining government, then Prime Minister Tony Abbott tore up the Compact and effectively robbed aged care nurses of their well-deserved improvements to wages, training and working conditions.

NO REQUIREMENT FOR AN RN Another early decision taken by the Abbott government that had far reaching consequences for aged care residents and nursing staff alike was the repeal of the distinction between high level residential care (nursing homes) and low level residential care (hostels) in the Aged Care Act. This decision followed a Productivity Commission recommendation for ‘more flexibility’ in the sector that had been championed and warmly welcomed by aged care providers.

This change in the law means there is now no Commonwealth legal requirement to have an RN on duty at all times, nor any minimum staffing requirements in an aged care facility.

A diverse group of organisations including the Royal College of GPs, National Seniors Australia, and the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association as well as the NSWNMA and the ANMF have raised their concerns about this move to reduce the level of regulation of aged care.

10 | THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE

The NSW government recently used this federal government re-engineering of aged care as a pretext for removing the requirement for an RN at all times in NSW aged care facilities.

BIG CUTS TO AGED CARE FUNDING Things have not improved for age care with Malcolm Turnbull’s ascension to prime minister.

Soon after he became leader he announced $472 million in cuts to various aged care programs. These included the Aged Care Education and Training Initiative and the Aged Care Vocational Education and Training professional development programs.

Aged care workforce funds that were created to attract, retain and educate workers within the sector have, according to the ANMF, “been watered down almost to the point of extinction.

“At a time when the country is facing increasing growth in the elderly population and increasing difficulty in attracting and retaining aged care staff reduction in funding for training that is critical to the sector is incomprehensible.”

The 2016 budget saw a further $1.2 billion cut from aged care funding over four years due to what the government said was “unanticipated growth in the complex health domain”.

Chief executive of Palliative Care Australia, Liz Callaghan, said use of the complex health domain is what most aged-care providers rely on to provide palliative care.

“Palliative Care Australia is concerned that residents in aged care will miss out on receiving high quality care at the end of life,” she said.

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON AGED CARE

“These cuts to aged care funding will have a detrimental impact on residents’ care.”

– MAREE WISEMAN, RN

Coalition Abolished the Aged Care Compact which would have delivered much needed wage increases to the sector.

Removed the distinction between high level residential care (nursing homes) and low level residential care (hostels) and with it any requirement for RNs to be on duty at all times.

$470m $1.2b cuts to various aged care programs

further cut from aged care funding in the 2016 budget

Cut $472 million from aged care workforce funds in the Mid Year Economic Forecast.

Cut $1.2 billion in aged care funding in the 2016 budget.

Labor Promises a comprehensive review of the aged care workforce including consultation with the ANMF. The review would examine the requirement for 24-hour nurse coverage and appropriate skill mix to deliver sustainable quality of care.

Will progress the regulation of assistant nurses and personal care workers.

The Greens Say they want to improve wages and access to training and career development for those working in aged care. They say they will ensure any mechanism that is meant to increase wages will actually pass the full benefit of increases on to workers.

THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE | 11

NURSES AND MIDWIVES VOTE JULY 2016 SUPERANNUATION

Women and the low paid still need more super The government has backed off from scrapping superannuation subsidies for the low paid but much more needs to be done to ensure women and those on low incomes have an adequate retirement.

The Turnbull Government made the first baby steps to rebalance superannuation in its recent budget but industry super funds, unions and community groups say much more is needed if the low paid and women are to have an adequate income in retirement.

The previous Labor government introduced a modest subsidy of $500 a year for three million low-income earners. The Abbott government tried to abolish this Low Income Superannuation Contribution in its first budget but was blocked in the Senate after a robust campaign by industry super funds and unions.

The government did a u-turn in the May budget and now the scheme will remain.

In its budget, the government also brought in measures to restrict the rich from using superannuation as a vehicle for tax avoidance by winding back supremely generous tax concessions for those on high incomes.

CHANGES DON’T GO FAR ENOUGH Industry Super Australia says the savings from these measures should have been redirected back into super to bolster the retirement incomes of the low paid. Instead they have gone into personal tax cuts for those earning more than $80,000 a year.

“While the $500 a year payment will help lower paid workers avoid a tax penalty on their super, it won’t provide a much-needed proactive annual boost which would keep their retirement savings moving more steadily upwards,” said Industry Super Australia’s Chief Economist, Stephen Anthony.

Paul Versteege from the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association says the government still left far too many tax breaks for the ultra wealthy.

The cap on how much you can put in a super account, he says, “is a staggering $1.6 million.

12 | THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE

Who has this kind of money? The wealthy.”

He contrasted this with the maximum $500 tax rebate for low-income earners.

“Who gets that sort of money? The poor,” he said.

WOMEN’S SUPER IS STILL GROSSLY INADEQUATE Of the three million low paid workers who rely on the Low Income Superannuation Guarantee, more than two million are women.

The gender pay gap sits at a record-high of 18.8 per cent and this feeds into an even bigger gender superannuation gap. A Senate report into women’s economic security in retirement has found that Australian women retire with just half the amount of super as men, on average, and one in three women retire with no super at all.

The superannuation gap is on average, 46.6 per cent. This means the average man retires with $197,054 while the average woman retires with just $104,734.

A PROGRESSIVE SYSTEM Many of the changes announced in the budget to remove tax breaks heavily skewed in favour of high income earners match existing Labor policy and unsurprisingly have been welcomed by the ALP. But Labor also wants to see the superannuation guarantee contribution advance more quickly to 12 per cent.

The Greens want to go a step further and replace the 15 per cent tax rate with a progressive sliding scale system where low income earners would pay no tax on their super, those on $37,000 to 100,000 would pay 15 per cent and those on more than 180,000 would pay 30 per cent.

18.8% Gender gap in wages

46.6% Superannuation gap

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON SUPERANNUATION

“Too many women are facing poverty in retirement because they don’t have enough super.”

–MICHELLE CASHMAN, RN

Labor Supports the budget changes that rein in tax breaks for high income earners.

Wants the increase in the super guarantee to 12 per cent to be brought forward.

$104,734 Average amount women retire with

$197,054 Average amount men retire with

Supports the superannuation guarantee being paid on Paid Parental Leave.

Supports the tax offset for low paid workers.

The Greens Propose a progressive superannuation contributions tax based on a sliding rate: from zero for low-income earners up to 30 per cent for those earning over $180,000 a year.

Support superannuation in paid parental leave.

Coalition Tax-free super balances capped at $1.6 million.

Will keep the Gillard Government’s tax offset of $500 for workers earning less than $37,0000.

Annual caps on pre and post-tax contributions lowered to $25,000 but can be carried forward 5 years.

Super taxed at 30% on contributions earned above a $250,000 income threshold, rather than 15%.

THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE | 13

NURSES AND MIDWIVES VOTE JULY 2016 CLIMATE CHANGE

A stark difference on tackling climate change Climate change has been a toxic political issue over the last seven years but business as usual is not an option as the planet continues to warm.

When he regained the leadership of the Liberal Party and became prime minister last year Malcolm Turnbull had to commit in writing he would maintain Tony Abbott’s policies on climate change, carbon pricing and emissions reductions targets.

While he once described Abbott’s Direct Action policy as “fiscal recklessness on a grand scale” Turnbull now thinks it is a “resounding success”.

The Direct Action policy effectively pays polluters to reduce their emissions. The money comes from the Emissions Reduction Fund that was given funds of $2.55 billion over four years starting on July 1, 2014.

According to a report by the Australia Institute – ‘The real cost of direct action’ – the amount set aside was grossly inadequate to meet the government’s own targets.

It calculated that by 2020 the fund would have needed around $100 billion to pay polluters if emission reduction targets were to be met.

“That is, on average, $11.1 billion every year to 2020. To put that in context that would require on average tax payments of about $1300 per household per year set aside for the Emissions Reduction Fund,” it said.

Experts say that the fund’s $2.55 billion will run out at the end of 2016. There was no extra funding allocated in this year’s budget.

THE PLANET CONTINUES TO BURN While Australia’s response to climate change has been paralysed by partisan politics the planet has continued to warm in dramatic fashion.

Independent studies by the UK Meteorological Office, NASA and the Japanese Meteorological

14 | THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE

Agency showed record global temperatures in 2015, smashing the record for the hottest year since reporting began in 1850.

15 of the 16 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001 according to NASA data.

“Those who claim that climate change is either not happening, or is not dangerous, have been conclusively proven wrong by the meteorological evidence around the world,” Bob Ward, from the Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics, told the Guardian.

Other countries are responding to this environmental threat in a more decisive way than Australia. China has confirmed that it will introduce a national ETS.

LABOR’S NEW PLAN FOR AN ETS WITHOUT A CARBON PRICE Bill Shorten has been clear that tackling climate change is crucial to modernise Australia’s economy. Labor has pledged to: • Ensure that at least 50 per cent of the nation’s electricity is sourced from renewable energy by 2030; • Implement an emissions trading scheme without a carbon tax or a fixed price on pollution • Reduce Australia’s emissions by 45 per cent on 2005 levels by the year 2030 Even the Business Council of Australia sees merit in Labor’s policy, which “could provide a platform for bipartisanship to deliver the energy and climate change policy durability needed to support this critical transformation,” BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott said.

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON CLIMATE CHANGE

“Climate change is a health issue. It’s happening and we can’t just do nothing.”

– ANNIE SMOKER, RN

The Greens Leader Richard di Natale says the Greens undertake to: Build at least 90 per cent clean energy by 2030 and phase out dirty fossil fuel power stations.

Place an immediate ban on new coal and gas projects and ban fracking.

Those who claim that climate change is either not happening, or is not dangerous, have been conclusively proven wrong by the meteorological evidence around the world.

Bob Ward, Institute on Climate Change – London School of Economics

End fossil fuel subsidies to big mining companies.

Impose a 60-80 per cent cut on 2000 emissions levels by 2030, and net zero by 2040.

Coalition Malcolm Turnbull has adopted Tony Abbott’s Direct Action plan which: Has a target to reduce emissions by 5 per cent on 2000 levels by 2020.

Established a $2.55 billion fund to pay polluters for reducing emissions.

He has also announced a $1 billion Clean Energy Innovation Fund to support emerging technologies.

Labor

Independent studies showed record global temperatures in 2015, smashing the record for the hottest year since reporting began in 1850.

I15 of the 16 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001 according to NASA data

Bill Shorten has announced Labor: Has a target to reduce Australia’s emissions by 45 per cent on 2005 levels by the year 2030.

Has a target of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

Will introduce an emissions trading scheme which does not include a carbon tax or a fixed price on pollution.

THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE | 15

NURSES AND MIDWIVES VOTE JULY 2016 TAX

A better tax system needed for a better society Tax avoidance is robbing the public purse of money needed for public services including health and education.

Australia lost $5.37 billion to corporate tax dodging by just 76 foreign multinationals in 2013 and 2014, according to researchers at the University of Technology, Sydney.

The research showed these huge corporations paid an average effective tax rate of just 16.2 per cent, compared with 24 per cent paid by the average nurse.

“To put this in perspective, these 76 corporations stole enough money from the public purse to restore $650 million ripped from Medicare, $1 billion from aged care, $500 million from Indigenous services, $240 million from the Rental Affordability Scheme – with $2.4 billion in spare change,” reported GetUp, an independent community campaign group, which commissioned the research.

Revelations like these have fuelled growing public anger over corporate tax dodging.

NSWNMA General Secretary Brett Holmes wrote in April: “With an election looming amidst a health and education funding crisis, it’s time for politicians to act in the health interests of our communities, rather than the financial interests of corporations, by announcing a comprehensive policy on tax avoidance.”

CORPORATE TAX AVOIDANCE IS RIFE Public outcry finally achieved a breakthrough with the government’s Budget announcement of anti-avoidance measures.

Among other measures, the government promised a Diverted Profits Tax, to help stop multinationals shifting their profits offshore.

However much of the money recouped will be returned to corporations through the government’s planned cuts to the corporate tax rate.

16 | THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE

It will lower the corporate tax rate to 27.5 per cent for all companies over the next 10 years, at a cost of $48.2 billion, according to Treasury.

As GetUp said: “Corporate tax dodgers have been robbing our local schools, hospitals and communities for decades. New revenue from a long overdue crackdown should pay back that shortfall, not go back into corporate coffers.”

Corporate tax avoidance is rife among local companies too.

Almost 600 of the largest companies operating in Australia did not pay income tax in the 2013-14 financial year, figures released by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) showed.

A TAX SYSTEM FOR THE WEALTHY

NO TAX CUTS FOR THE LOW PAID Meanwhile the government will cut the corporate tax rate to 27.5 per cent for 870,000 “small businesses” with turnover of up to $10 million, starting on July 1.

The small business tax rate previously applied to companies with less than $2 million turnover.

At the same time the government will give $4 billion worth of tax cuts over the next four years to the top 25 per cent of income earners who get more than $80,000 a year.

It will also abolish the temporary deficit levy which is effectively a tax cut for the top 2 per cent of income earners on more than $180,000 a year. This alone will cost about $1.2 billion.

There are no tax cuts for Australians on lower incomes.

Australia lost $5.37 billion to corporate tax dodging by just 76 foreign multinationals in 2013 and 2014

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON CORPORATE TAX AVOIDANCE

“It’s not fair that those earning so much aren’t paying their share.” – GARY DUNNE, RN

Labor Legislated in 2013 to clamp down on legal tax avoidance – expected to recover $1.1 billion in revenue from multinationals.

Huge corporations paid an average effective tax rate of just 16.2 per cent, compared with 24 per cent paid by the average nurse.

Has since released a tougher policy that aims to claw back $7 billion from multinational tax dodgers.

Coalition A diverted profits tax at a penalty rate of 40 per cent on income multinationals attempt to shift offshore.

Increased penalties for multinationals that fail to meet their compliance and disclosure obligations to the ATO. Better protection for tax whistleblowers.

The Greens A major crackdown on multinational tax avoidance using stronger laws, tougher enforcement and greater disclosure.

Fully restore ATO funding.

Almost 600 of the largest companies operating in Australia did not pay income tax in the 2013-14

The government will give $4 billion worth of tax cuts over the next four years to the top 25 per cent of income earners

There were no tax cuts for Australians on lower incomes in the budget

Encourage whistle-blowers by offering them a proportion of reclaimed money stolen or avoided.

THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE | 17

NURSES AND MIDWIVES VOTE JULY 2016 EDUCATION

Taking our classrooms backwards Australia is retreating from fairer, more equitable funding of our children’s education.

In 2013, the then federal Labor government began to implement a new way of funding schools based on an independent review by prominent businessman David Gonski.

The Gonski report warned that Australia was under-investing in education and there were alarming gaps in achievement between students from different backgrounds.

Under the Gonski plan, all schools would be funded according to the individual needs of their students.

Schools could use additional resources to do things like: • Reduce class sizes • Employ additional specialist teachers in areas such as literacy and numeracy • Provide greater support to students with disabilities or behavioural problems Rooty Hill High School principal Christine Cawsey was one of many teachers who praised the move.

She said Gonski funding had helped address entrenched inequality at her school in Sydney’s west, by allowing the school to tailor lesson plans to individual students and hire three support staff for teacher development.

“I think the Australian community knows that we can’t lose another generation of our children,” she said. “As the Californians say, ‘spend money on education or build more jails.”

ABANDONING PUBLIC SCHOOLS However the Turnbull government has abandoned the Gonski initiatives leaving Australian school funding “in its deepest level of crisis in decades” according to Dr Glenn C. Savage, Senior Lecturer in Education Policy at the University of Melbourne.

He says: “Not only has the Coalition walked away from the landmark Gonski school funding reforms established under Labor, but it has also flagged the radical idea of cutting federal funding to public schools altogether.”

18 | THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE

In March, Prime Minister Turnbull floated the idea of letting states raise a share of income taxes to replace federal funding of public schools.

“Bizarrely, Turnbull suggested the federal government would continue funding private schools,” Dr Savage said.

This would “take Australia down the same path as the USA, where there are unconscionable inequalities in school funding between states” and make the gap between public and private schools even wider.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has attacked the government’s failure to continue the Gonski initiatives.

He said: “Labor believes that it shouldn’t be a child’s postcode, or the wealth of their parents that determines the quality of education they get.

“That is why Labor will continue to fight for needs based funding in our schools.”

FAILING THE FAIRNESS TEST The Australian Education Union says the recent Turnbull Budget has given voters “a clear election choice with both Labor and the Greens committed to the full $4.5 billion that will fund the last two years of Gonski and give disadvantaged schools the resources they need.”

“The Coalition’s Budget found a token $1.2 billion for schools over three years, far less than the $4.5 billion required for the full Gonski, but offers nothing for TAFEs or for Early Childhood Education,” said AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe.

She said the budget had failed the fairness test by denying money to disadvantaged schools and their students.

“Budgets are about priorities, and Malcolm Turnbull has found money for tax cuts for high income earners, yet is unable to find money to properly fund our schools.”

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON EDUCATION

“An innovation nation requires quality education for all. Gonski ensures equitable access.”

– ELEANOR ROMNEY, CNS

Coalition Provide an additional $1.2 billion for schools between 2018 and 2020 – providing the states undertake ‘reforms’.

The Greens Provide the extra $4.5 billion to implement the Gonski plan but give funding priority to public schools.

Labor Provide an extra $4.5 billion in school funding to 2020 as outlined in the Gonski plan – to be funded with higher tobacco taxes.

A CLEAR CHOICE Sydney Morning Herald economics writer Jessica Irvine summed up the major party positions this way: “The Coalition’s centrepiece is a $48.2 billion policy to cut the corporate tax rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over a decade.

“Labor is pledging to spend an extra $37.4 billion on schools funding over the coming decade to boost the future productivity of the workforce.

“The battle lines are clear. Labor won’t cut company tax and the Coalition won’t spend as much on schools.”

THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE | 19

NURSES AND MIDWIVES VOTE JULY 2016 BORDER FORCE ACT

Border Force Act silences health workers A law supported by both major parties continues to threaten nurse whistle-blowers with imprisonment.

Australian health professionals including nurses have risked imprisonment by speaking out against the treatment of asylum seekers at offshore detention centres.

The Border Force Act introduced by the Abbott Government with the support of the Labor Opposition, makes it illegal for people working within Australia’s asylum seeker detention system to disclose information.

Under the legislation, staff who reveal conditions on Nauru and Manus Island detention centres face up to two years’ imprisonment.

Last year, Sydney nurse Alanna Maycock and other health workers publicly condemned conditions at Nauru detention centre, in contravention of the Act. In a more recent example of defiance, two doctors appeared on ABC television’s Four Corners in April to condemn the bureaucratic delay in approving medical evacuation of a seriously ill asylum seeker at Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea.

The 24-year-old Iranian, Hamid Khazaei, suddenly became unwell from a skin infection on his leg, and died 13 days later in Brisbane’s Mater Hospital.

The antibiotics available on Manus Island were unable to stop the infection and it rapidly progressed to septicaemia.

Mr Khazaei suffered three heart attacks and his brain began dying before he was finally evacuated to the Mater.

DENIES DUTY OF CARE NSWNMA General Secretary Brett Holmes said the main purpose of the Border Force Act was to suppress public access to information regarding care of people in detention.

“This law effectively denies health professionals, including nurses and midwives, the ability to fulfill their duty of care to report incidents of abuse and of deficient, inadequate or unfair treatment,” he said.

20 | THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE

The Australian Nurses and Midwives Federation annual conference unanimously voted to condemn the legislation.

The Australian College of Nursing, the Australian College of Midwives and the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses called for the law to be amended.

They said the law “actively prohibits nurses and midwives from fulfilling their duty under their Code of Professional Conduct and Code of Ethics which set the minimum standards for practice a nurse or midwife is expected to uphold.”

“Under their respective Codes of Professional Conduct both nurses and midwives are required, where they have made a report of unlawful or otherwise unacceptable conduct to their employers and that report fails to produce an appropriate response from the employers, to take the matter to an appropriate external authority.

“However, restrictions imposed by the Australian Border Force Act prohibit nurses and midwives from doing so.”

HEALTH PROFESSIONALS CALL FOR AMENDMENTS They called for amendments to ensure that health professionals can “advocate freely for best practice health care and against conditions or practices that are harmful to detainees’ health or that otherwise violate their human rights.”

Peter Roberts, Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University, and a former senior executive with the Federal Attorney General and National Crime Authority, said disclosures must first be made internally.

However evidence to the Senate inquiry by Dr Peter Young, psychiatrist and former director of mental health services at detention centre service provider, International Health and Mental Services (IHMS), and others, indicated that internal reporting had not been welcomed nor acted upon.

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON BORDER FORCE ACT

“If I see anything that affects the health of my patient I have a duty of care to report it.”

– ALANNA MAYCOCK, RN

Coalition Introduced the Border Force Act in 2015 and continues to support the legislation.

The Greens Voted against the Border Force Act and advocate measures to protect whistleblowers who disclose information in the “public interest”.

Labor Voted for the Border Force Act on the basis that exceptions can apply where disclosure is required or authorised by or under a law of the Commonwealth, a state or a territory.

Claimed whistle-blowers would be protected under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013.

The Border Force Act actively prohibits nurses and midwives from fulfilling their duty under their Code of Professional Conduct and Code of Ethics.

THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE | 21

NURSES AND MIDWIVES VOTE JULY 2016

Get involved and make a difference The time has come to stand together as one to get commitments from the political parties to ensure nurses and midwives can care to the fullest.

Here are some ideas of how you can get involved in our campaign leading to the election on July 2.

6

things you can do to make a difference this election

1

Talk to your friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues about what the Turnbull government is doing to our public hospitals and Medicare.

2

Use social media to get our message out about defending our public health system. www.facebook.com/ ICareAndIVote

3 4

Email five people and ask them to watch our TV ad online and share the link with five more people: ICareAndIVote.com.au

Visit our campaign website and get involved in our campaign. Go to www.nswnma.asn.au for more information.

6

ote to protect V our public health system.

22 | THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE

5

Doorknock and letterbox your neighbourhood and let the community hear what is happening to our public hospitals, Medicare and Aged Care from the perspective of nurses and midwives.

FEDERAL ELECTION 2016

Download our campaign materials

Visit our campaign website The ANMF has set up a campaign website for members and the public called I care and I vote – ICareAndIVote.com.au where you can:

EMAIL

LIKE

WATCH

Send an email to the party leaders and tell them you care about what is happening to our public health system.

Join us on Facebook and keep up to date with health and aged care election issues as they happen. www.facebook. com/ICareAndIVote

and share our TV ads.

http://www.nswnma.asn.au/getinvolved/i-care-and-i-vote/

IF NURSES AND MIDWIVES DON’T STAND UP FOR MEDICARE AND PUBLIC HOSPITALS, WHO WILL? Judith Kiejda

THE LAMP ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE | 23