The new NT government is set to make a splash at its first sitting of Parliament next week – and among those in its sights are cowards who assault the state’s workers.
With the ink barely dry on the Northern Territory’s August election count, newly minted chief minister Lia Finocchiaro is making good on her acceptance speech in August.
“I will meet with the police commissioner and the chief executive of the Chief Minister and Cabinet to start the work that must immediately begin to make the territory safe,” she said.
“We will do whatever it takes. We will do whatever it takes to restore community safety.
“And we will not let you down.”
Mrs Finocchiaro, the first woman to lead the territory’s County Liberal Party in the role, fronted the media today and showed she meant business.
She announced new legislation – to be introduced, debated and passed when the first sitting of the new Parliament begins on Tuesday – protecting health, emergency and other frontline workers from violent attacks.
The legislation will see the introduction of minimum mandatory sentences for cowardly assaults on police, paramedics, nurses, doctors, teachers, and corrections officers. Other workers included in the new laws include retail and hospitality workers, bus and taxi drivers, and any other NT worker who is undertaking work in accordance with their duties.
Mrs Finocchiaro said the proposed legislation would act as a deterrence, and sent a clear message that the government supported all territory workers, who deserve to be safe at work.
“Territorians at work, especially our frontline workers, should be protected. With stronger laws, we intend to send a message that it will not be tolerated,” she said.
“There will be new minimum mandatory sentences for assaults on both frontline workers like police and ambos, and for assaulting anyone while at work.
“This includes making spitting on a frontline worker trigger a three-month minimum mandatory sentence.
“Spitting on, punching, kicking or biting police and Territory workers should result in a mandatory minimum sentence, not a get out of jail free card. We committed to mandatory community service and have strengthened the laws to ensure that a person who is convicted of assaulting a frontline worker must undertake community work at a minimum.”
It was tragically ironic that just hours before the chief minister appeared at the St John ambulance headquarters with St John Ambulance NT director Andrew Thomas to make the announcement, a senior paramedic was brutally attacked in Alice Springs.
According to the NT News, the female paramedic was returning home at the end of her shift in a marked St John vehicle when she was set upon. She was punched a number of times to the head and suffered concussion and soft-tissue injuries.
“As they got out of their vehicle they were attacked by someone there,” Mr Thomas said. “The person activated their duress alarm and police were called. The person fought them off and actually drove away from the scene and got themselves to hospital and they were there overnight receiving treatment.
“No level of attack on any frontline worker is acceptable. This is horrendous. This was not actually a person even doing their job. This was them getting home at the end of their shift, looking to just relax after the day.
“It is unacceptable for this behaviour to occur and I really hope that changes to the laws make some level of impact.”
Speaking to media at the announcement later that day, Mr Thomas said the St John Ambulance “Hands Off – Give Our Paramedics Space to Save Lives” campaign was clear enough, yet some people in the community still aren’t getting the message.
“Paramedics are there to help, not to be assaulted,” he said.
“Over the past 12 months there have been more than 140 reported incidents of physical and sexual assault towards St John NT staff, averaging one incident per operational paramedic.
“Additionally, ambulance vehicles have been damaged and removed from operation, impacting on our ability to respond to community needs.
“Frontline workers must be able to do their jobs safely and without interruption. Assaulting them is never acceptable.”
Under the new government’s proposed legislation, assaults on police or emergency workers involving physical harm, or spitting on a frontline worker, will carry a mandatory minimum sentence of three months’ imprisonment, including for first-time offenders. Currently, no mandatory minimum exists for spitting. Other key points include:
- Assaults on police or emergency workers without physical harm will result in a mandatory Community Correction Order, even for first-time offenders.
- Assaults on workers where physical harm is caused and the offender has a prior conviction for a violent offence, will now carry a mandatory minimum sentence of a term of actual imprisonment.
- Assaults on workers by a first-time offender where physical harm is caused, will attract a mandatory Community Correction Order.
There is currently no mandatory minimum sentence that exists or applies to the above points.
NT attorney-general Marie-Clare Boothby said the government was committed to ending the escalating and unsustainable levels of violence and abuse against territory workers, and putting the rights of workers above the rights of offenders.
“There must be consequences for actions and that is why the CLP is introducing legislative reform in line with our election commitments to address five key areas: Declan’s Law, mandatory minimum sentencing for assaults on Territory workers, ram-raids and ‘posting and boasting’, nuisance public drinking and lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility,” said Ms Boothby.
“Our government is ready to go for parliamentary sittings starting next Tuesday and will deliver on the laws Territorians voted for at the August election.”
Sadly the legislation will come too late for the paramedic bashed in Alice Springs this week. But it should serve as an example for other states and territories.
The evidence keeps mounting that healthcare worker violence in Australia is growing. And we are not alone.
In June this year, a University of Queensland-led study published in The Lancet’s journal eClinicalMedicine, found workplace violence (WPV) against healthcare workers (HCWs) was a “globally growing problem”.
“Our review emphasises the general consensus that violence against HCWs is a critical and growing concern due to its widespread detrimental impacts on HCWs, healthcare systems and society as a whole,” the authors wrote.
“The persistent nature of the problem, despite increasing awareness and ongoing interventions, highlights the complexity of effectively addressing and mitigating WPV. The interplay between workplace, patient and socio–cultural factors creates a wicked set of challenges for individual healthcare units and hospitals.
“Our review found sufficient evidence to confirm WPV contributes to poor mental and physical health of HCWs. There is also evidence of a causal relationship between these WPV impacts and poorer quality patient care, and increased direct and indirect costs to healthcare systems. This highlights the importance of addressing WPV, particularly in the context of a growing shortage in healthcare workers and resources.
“The consequences HCWs bear as a result of WPV contribution significantly to staff turnover which reduces access to care, particularly for vulnerable populations, and can further exacerbate patient aggression.
“The authors believe there is an important role for legislative action against WPV despite finding little formal evidence for its impact.”
To put this in context, my son’s partner works as a nurse in Sydney. She frequently comes home with injuries inflicted by patients – some confused or mentally ill – and stories of her colleagues’ injuries.
She has had cuts from projectiles thrown at her, second degree burns from having scalding tea or coffee thrown at her. She has been spat on, vomited on and put up with verbal abuse from patients and even their families.
Then there is her colleague who had to have her face stitched up on the eve of her wedding when a patient threw a plate at her head and sliced her cheek open.
And they don’t even work in an emergency department, which is the hospital’s ground zero when it comes to patient-inflicted violence and abuse.
I see how hard she tries to overcome these incidents, some which could be described as accidental or unintentional, but I can see it chips away at her. She has physical scars she shouldn’t have, sometimes because they were so short staffed there was no dedicated nurse to manage the care of the highest maintenance patients, often known as the “specials”. I am sure she has scars we cannot see.
I also see how she has slipped into an acceptance that workplace violence and abuse is inevitable and is just part of the job to be endured.
That is not okay. In no work environment is that okay. I don’t go to work every day expecting to have something thrown at me or a barrage of verbal abuse hurled my way. I don’t go to work any day expecting that. And if I did it would be time to leave that job.
Leaving is not an option for my son’s partner. Nursing is her vocation and she is bloody good at it. It’s hard not to want to shadow her when she takes a placement in the emergency department of one of Sydney’s most dangerous areas. There has been more than one occasion that I have suggested setting up work in the car park for the day, just so someone is close by. My son has suggested the same. And we are not shrinking violets. We believe that people are inherently good wherever they live and that it’s important to trust that no intended harm will come.
Maybe I am just getting old. I will confess that whenever I hear a radio news bulletin about a building site accident my heart sinks. My son is a builder – but that’s a whole other story.
Hats off to the new NT government for trying to put a dent in the scourge of workplace violence. I hope the rest of Australia takes some notice.