{"id":63828,"date":"2025-06-26T17:09:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T07:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/?p=63828"},"modified":"2025-07-29T11:46:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T01:46:34","slug":"budget-snubs-ambulance-puts-queenslanders-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/media-release\/budget-snubs-ambulance-puts-queenslanders-at-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"BUDGET SNUBS AMBULANCE, PUTS QUEENSLANDERS AT RISK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alarm bells were ringing across Emergency Departments on Tuesday as the Queensland government handed down a Budget with a gaping hole where funding for ambulance staff and vehicles should be, leaving the critical services that Queenslanders rely on at risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Queensland\u2019s growing population, ambulance services need to keep up or risk putting millions of Queenslanders in danger.<\/span><\/p>\n

Modelling shows that demand for ambulances in Queensland will grow at least 6% a year. But this Budget\u2019s planned 225 staff per year will only cover a 4% annual increase in demand \u2013 meaning an annual 2% net loss of ambulance services.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ambulance workers are currently bargaining for their terms and conditions for the next three years. Before this budget was handed down, UWU members reached out to Minister Nicholls about what was needed to reach agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n

This Minister has provided no reply to this correspondence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Quotes attributable to Fiona Scalon, Ambulance Coordinator, United Workers Union:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cQueensland is a growing state, and the Government must invest to support that growth, otherwise we\u2019ll fall behind and Queenslanders\u2019 health will suffer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFunding for 900 new ambulance staff over 4 years is less than half what the previous ALP Government committed to, and far less staffing than previous budgets.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor ambulance workers who are already under pressure, that extra annual demand means already lengthy shifts being extended, leave being difficult to get approved, and no respite from a relentless and demanding role.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor Queenslanders, this could mean delays in response time that could have dire patient outcomes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven the funding earmarked for vehicles is laughable. With a fleet of 1600 rapidly aging vehicles, 170 new or replacement vehicles aren\u2019t nearly enough. This budget won\u2019t keep ambulances on the road, and won\u2019t fund enough staff to do the job.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Minister\u2019s complete lack of response says it all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis Budget is a slap in the face of hard-working and dedicated QLD Ambulance workers who save lives every day, and the Queenslanders who rely on them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Quote from Queensland Ambulance worker: <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis Budget will see paramedics continue to be subjected to psychosocially unsafe conditions and will continue to contribute to rising levels of sick leave and burnout. Our paramedics, and our communities, deserve better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alarm bells were ringing across Emergency Departments on Tuesday as the Queensland government handed down a Budget with a gaping hole where funding for ambulance staff and vehicles should be, leaving the critical…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":64749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[110],"class_list":["post-63828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-release","tag-ambulance-paramedics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63828"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65667,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63828\/revisions\/65667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.uwu.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}