Mental Health nurse Monica shares her thoughts on the Government’s ill-conceived page freeze policy

Recently, a dumb decision was made to cut the pay of frontline workers: “a 2.5% wage freeze on a wage increase” as they have put it (it’s clearly a misnomer – this is not a pay increase, it is our cost of living adjustment).

It was justified as “we need to look at the economy and generate jobs.” How? Have they put forward a plan on how they intend to spend the $3 billion that they would save from freezing the pay of 410,000 public health sector workers? Oh sorry, that plan is to roll ahead with the Powerhouse Museum and Parramatta Stadium.

So now I am thinking. How many times would I go to the Powerhouse Museum or to Parramatta Stadium? NEVER. Because I come from a working-class family and my priority would be to spend my money at local shops and small businesses to get my day-to-day needs. And exactly how many jobs will be generated at these places? And will they be guaranteed?

This will just cause a domino effect. We are already heading into a recession, but I guess our incompetent government would like to experience depression. The 2.5% pay cut will trickle down. Money would not be spent because Sydney has the second highest cost of living in the world; money would be prioritised to getting by day by day. Small businesses would suffer because they would not be having money spent in their stores. More people would be out of jobs, and with the government only providing minimal support, ultimately their health would suffer.

People would not be able to afford to pursue a healthy lifestyle. Their health would deteriorate. The burden on an already broken health care system will increase and people will be faced with preventable health issues. People will suffer because of this. Pain. Misery. Depression. Fear. There would be an increase in mental health issues. 

Oh, by the way Brad Hazzard, you seemed to have expressed a delusion that “NSW Health system is the best system in the world.” I am so sorry, but have you walked and seen the way our health system actually works? Or do you need a mental health admission to treat these delusions?

Nurses and midwives only ever fight for the safety of our patients. We only ever fight to improve our health systems so we can provide the world class care that we all dream off. How do you think we would be motivated to keep doing our best when they keep bringing us down? We didn’t get nurse to patient ratios nor will we get our cost of living adjustment. What’s next?

I lost confidence in our government a long time ago, but even more so now. And why didn’t they face the frontline workers instead of hiding behind cameras to announce this? Where is the transparency? Where is the honesty? And where the f%^* is your common sense?