Month: August 2024

The NSW Government has responded to the Birth Trauma Inquiry and has supported 42 of its 43 recommendations to improve the experience and wellbeing of all pregnant women and their families across the state.

The experiences of women heard throughout the Birth Trauma Inquiry highlighted the critical importance of respectful, compassionate, trauma-informed and culturally safe maternity care.

It’s why the NSW Government is announcing today that NSW Health is accelerating five initiatives over the next 12 months in response to the Birth Trauma Inquiry, to ensure women and their families receive compassionate, respectful, evidence-based and equitable maternity care.

The five initiatives to be accelerated are:

• increasing access to maternity continuity of care models;
• embedding trauma-informed maternity care;
• improving the way information is provided to women;
• improving consent processes in maternity care; and
• supporting women who experience pregnancy complications.

What was shared through the inquiry also amplified what NSW Health heard through consultation with more than 18,000 women, their partners and families in the development of Connecting, listening and responding: A Blueprint for Action – Maternity Care in NSW (the Blueprint), published in March 2023.

The Blueprint was also informed by extensive consultation with clinicians about what matters to them. Local health districts across NSW are using the Blueprint to guide redesign and improvement of maternity services.

Considerable commitment has been made or is in progress to improve NSW maternity care including:

• Brighter Beginnings – a $376.5 million cross-agency collaboration to improve outcomes for NSW children and their families in the first 2000 days, from pregnancy to school age.
• A $130.9 million Family Start Package to boost lifelong maternal and child health, which includes the Waminda Birth Centre and Community Hub.
• Pregnancy Connect – a $6.19 million investment to improve access to specialist maternity care and the safe transfer of women who require higher levels of care.
• A review of the SAFE START policy to ensure evidence-based psychosocial and mental health screening and referral of women to specialist support services as required.
• Development of a guideline, Perinatal Loss, to strengthen bereavement support to parents who experience pregnancy or newborn loss.
• Establishment of the Maternity Co-Leadership Model to ensure senior midwifery and obstetric leadership in each local health district.
• Provided $10,000 to the Gidget Foundation Australia, from the Premier’s Discretionary Fund, to enable the development of a training program and new tools to assist the health workforce with supporting expectant and new parents.

The NSW Government is also taking steps to strengthen the health workforce, to ensure ongoing delivery of high-quality and culturally responsive care by:

• Providing more than $2.5 billion over four years in the FY2023-24 NSW budget to recruit and retain more skilled nurses, midwives, allied health workers and clinicians including $419.1 million to recruit an additional 1,200 nurses and midwives by 2025-26 to implement Safe Staffing Levels in our public hospitals.
• Investing $121.9 million over the next five years to provide healthcare students with study subsidies.
• Doubling the incentives available to healthcare workers when relocating to remote and rural areas from $10,000 to $20,000 and
• Delivering a boost to take home pay for more than 50,000 healthcare workers through increased salary packaging benefits.

Minister for Health, Ryan Park:

“We apologise to women who have not received the high standard of maternity care they should have.

“We also recognise and are grateful for the courage of the thousands of women who shared their deeply personal and difficult experiences with the Select Committee on Birth Trauma.

“The NSW Government supports in full or in principle 42 of the 43 recommendations, noting that the other recommendation is for the Chair to action. We have heard what matters most to women, and their families, to meet their diverse needs.

“The Government Response outlines our ongoing commitment and the actions underway to improve their experiences and health and wellbeing outcomes.”

NSW Health Deputy Secretary, System Strategy and Patient Experience, Deb Willcox AM:

“We recognise pregnancy, birth and the transition to parenthood are profound life events.

“NSW Health is committed to strengthening and improving maternity care for women and their families.

“We will continue to listen to and learn from women about their birth experiences in order to deliver the best possible maternity care that improves experiences and health and wellbeing outcomes for women, babies and families in NSW.”

A new report by the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) delivers a damning indictment of the Minns Labor Government, revealing that NSW is set to fall 40% short of its National Housing Accord Target. The “UDIA National Housing Pipeline” report highlights a staggering shortfall of 150,600 homes over the next five years, with only 3% of the pipeline development ready.
Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said the Minns Labor Government is not just out of touch, it’s out of its depth.
 
“Labor is big on rhetoric and hopeless on delivery. Their failure to deliver on housing is a failure to deliver on a most basic human need,” Mr Speakman said.
Shadow Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Scott Farlow said Chris Minns and his union mates haven’t just dropped the ball, they’ve shattered it.
 
“This is an unforgivable betrayal of over 150,000 families left in limbo. Labor’s failure to heed industry warnings is driving us into a housing catastrophe, with building approvals at their lowest level in 12 years,” Mr Farlow said.

“With 30% of planned homes stalled by infrastructure delays, Chris Minns stands by as the ETU block power connections, driving up costs and threatening the entire housing pipeline. Instead of addressing the crisis, Labor cuts essential services, forcing families into overcrowded schools and hospitals. This is a catastrophic betrayal of every family in NSW.”

Tens of billions of dollars’ worth of essential infrastructure projects have stalled, leaving NSW businesses, workers and communities to suffer due to the Minns Labor Government’s capitulation to the Electrical Trades Union (ETU).

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said the Premier needs to explain why he won’t use the legal powers available under section 424 of the Fair Work Act to seek a halt to the ETU’s disruptive campaign.

“The former Coalition NSW government successfully used these laws to prevent a train strike in 2018, and the Albanese government used them in 2022 to stop Svitzer’s lockout of critical port workers. Why can’t Chris Minns and Sophie Cotsis do the same?”

“Under a Labor Government, the unions will always run the show. Chris Minns has the power to seek an end to this chaos and get NSW moving again, but instead he’s chosen to let the ETU call the shots,” Mr Speakman said.

Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Damien Tudehope, said the NSW Government has no regard for the economic damage being caused by their inaction.

“The ETU has been allowed to run riot, and it’s NSW that’s paying the price. Labor’s failure to stand up to the unions is costing us billions in stalled projects, thousands of jobs, and the livelihoods of countless businesses. This is what happens when unions are allowed to run the state,” Mr Tudehope said.

Shadow Minister for Roads Natalie Ward said the delays to the $1.7 billion M7-M12 Interchange, a project critical for Western Sydney’s growth, is testament to Chris Minns’ failure.

“The Albanese Government cut funding to the M7-M12 Interchange and now the ETU are using the project to cut into the future of Western Sydney roads. This is what happens when the government is more interested in pleasing unions than delivering for the people of NSW. Our roads are stuck in gridlock, just like this government,” Ms Ward said.
 
Shadow Minister for Health Kellie Sloane said it is appalling the $940 million redevelopment of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital is on hold because of Labor’s weakness.
 
“The people of NSW are paying the price for Labor’s unhealthy relationship with the unions,” Ms Sloane said.
Chris Minns and Sophie Cotsis have allowed the ETU to bring NSW to its knees. It’s time they stepped up, invoked section 424 of the Fair Work Act, and put an end to this madness.

Projects affected –

●        Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) Hospital Redevelopment – $940 million

●        Snowy Hydro Gas Power Station – $950 million.

●        M7-M12 Interchange – $1.7 billion

●        Western Sydney Aerotropolis – Over $20 billion

●        Deicorp Housing Developments

Affordable and essential housing projects in Sydney’s Inner-West, including 108 apartments, 176 apartments in Rothschild Roseberry, and 120 apartments in Zetland, remain unfinished, exacerbating the housing crisis.

●        Goodman’s Oakdale Industrial Estate

A multimillion-dollar industrial project critical for supporting business operations and creating jobs is at a standstill due to the ETU’s disruption and the government’s inaction.

●        Wollondilly Performing Arts Centre

●        Telstra Mobile Blackspot Site in Western Sydney

Connectivity across Western Sydney is compromised as this project remains incomplete, leaving residents and businesses in the dark.

●        Mater Hospital – North Sydney

●        Wentworth Point Public School

●        Cedar Pacific Kensington Trust (UniLodge Kensington)

●        Karimbla Construction Services (Meriton Construction Arm) Developments – Various Locations

●        Greenfields Housing Developments – 408 Lots

●        Lendlease Housing Developments – 450 Lots

●        Mirvac Warehouse Developments – Kemps Creek

●        Goodman and Brickworks Warehouse – Oakdale East Industrial Estate

●        Frasers Property The Yards – Multiple Lots.

●        Charter Hall Light Horse Logistics Hub

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has today joined other Pacific leaders to endorse the Pacific Policing Initiative (PPI), a major regional initiative to strengthen collective peace and security throughout the Pacific.

The PPI will boost the capability of Pacific nations to meet law and order and internal security requirements, and to support each other in times of need. The PPI has three pillars:

• Up to four regional police training Centres of Excellence, located in the Pacific, to enhance policing capabilities through specialist training and operational support for Pacific police personnel.
• The Pacific Police Support Group (PPSG) – a multi-country police capability, with a ready pool of trained Pacific police to deploy in response to Pacific country requirements, such as for major event management or additional capacity in times of crisis.
• A PPI Policing Development and Coordination Hub to be hosted in Brisbane – including access to state of the art AFP facilities for training and to prepare for any PPSG deployments.

Australia will commit approximately $400 million over five years to ensure the PPI delivers on the aspirations of Pacific countries. Australia’s contribution will include infrastructure costs associated with new policing Centres of Excellence in the region.

The PPI is a practical contribution to the Pacific Islands Forum’s peace and security vision outlined in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and it builds on the recent experience of the Solomons International Assistance Force.

Discussions on an integrated regional policing capability were first held at the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police meeting in 2023. Pacific police are finalising a PPI design process that ensures this initiative will be by the Pacific and for the Pacific.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:

“This policing initiative continues a long history of Pacific police forces working together to strengthen regional peace and security, and to support each other in times of need.

“Pacific leaders are working together to shape the future we want to see – improving capability, cooperation and interoperability among Pacific police forces benefits all Pacific countries and the security of our communities.

“This is a Pacific-led, Australia-backed initiative, harnessing our collective strengths. We are stronger together.

“The security of the Pacific is the shared responsibility of the Pacific region and this initiative benefits each of our nations.”