Five days of arbitration hearings between psychiatrists and the New South Wales government are underway at the industrial relations commission today. More than 200 psychiatrists in the state's public health system resigned in January overpay and severe understaffing issues.
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00:00This hearing is going to run for 5 days and is going to consider arguments from the government
00:06as well as the union representing psychiatrists. At the heart of this dispute is what the mental
00:12health sector should look like, particularly for psychiatrists working in public hospitals
00:18across the state. Everyone agrees it's important work. This is people presenting to emergency
00:23departments and mental health units, sometimes with very complex and acute mental health
00:28issues. It could be a schizophrenic paranoid episode, psychotic episodes, as well as issues
00:33like dementia and eating disorders too. Now at the current state of play, psychiatrists
00:39and the union representing them say that conditions are not good enough to retain valuable staff.
00:46On a good day there's supposed to be more than 440 employed psychiatrists in the public
00:51health system. In reality there's nowhere near that. The union says one way to prevent
00:56this issue is to look at a more remunerated package. This includes a 25% retention bonus
01:03to be paid to people that would ensure that in the instances of trying to have competitive
01:08salaries they would be better, not only compared to the private sector for psychiatrists, but
01:13also compared to what psychiatrists doing the same work could work and earn elsewhere
01:18in the country, including in other states and territories. The union argues already
01:22that some people have resigned to go on and take this kind of work in other parts of the
01:27country. As for the government, they say what is on the table already, which is a 10.5%
01:32increase in salary over three years, as well as a 10% so-called onerous duties allowance,
01:38which could be paid in some instances as well, is a more than generous offer. They cite the
01:43wages that psychiatrists are on has already been higher than the typical median salary
01:48of a person, not only in the state, but also right around the country. And as a result,
01:53the pay off on the table is a more than generous one that should be accepted. Here's the premier
01:58Chris Mins. The double digit demand, more than double digit, more than 20% increase
02:03in salaries for psychiatrists in a single year is not something that we can afford.
02:10And it'd be unprecedented both in New South Wales and around Australia to have a particular
02:15group of public servants be given a 25% pay increase for one year. I mean, how, how could
02:22we say to the rest of the public service that what we were offering, which we believe was
02:25generous and obviously we don't have the wages cap in New South Wales anymore is justified.
02:30The union on the other hand says it's about a lot more than just rates of pay. They've
02:34spoken about the idea that staffing and conditions really need to be looked at and that the pay
02:40dispute and claim is just one part of it. They also want to see more money for training
02:44for psychiatrists as well as a dispute resolution community and committee that would work closely
02:50within the industry to resolve issues within the medical profession. Professor and Dr.
02:55Chris Ryan, who's working as a psychiatrist right now in the public health sector says
03:00at the moment morale is shot.
03:02I think the morale has taken a very big hit. I don't think there's any doubt about that.
03:08I think the psychiatrists went to the government genuinely asking can you give us a hand with
03:15fixing the system and then they got nothing back and then when out of frustration a lot
03:22of my colleagues, I think not unreasonably, said well if you don't do anything we're leaving.
03:28The government seemed to say fine, we don't need you.
03:32One thing that both parties concede is that since January when about 50 resignations of
03:37psychiatrists went ahead, we have seen an impact on wait times, not only in the emergency
03:42unit but also in mental health wards. The exact extent of these resignations isn't totally
03:48known. It's worth noting that 200 psychiatrists were going to resign in January. However,
03:53some of them were avoided due to some coming on to work in casual roles while others decided
03:58to defer their resignation for a period of time. However, that could all change in the
04:03future. What will come of this Industrial Relations Commission hearing may well influence
04:08that but it's going to be at least five full days of evidence which is underway as we speak
04:13and also then a decision to be reserved by the three justices overhearing this commission
04:18and its days of evidence that will then take some time before it offers up a resolution.
04:23The challenge for the government is that when you have people resign from their work, no
04:27matter what finding is handed down from the Industrial Relations Commission, they can't
04:31force people who have resigned to go back to work, meaning these staffing issues may
04:35be persistent for not only the government but also patients trying to access quality
04:40care.