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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 670 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 26 October 2021 by Dr D.J. Honey

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

NURSES AND MIDWIVES — RECRUITMENT

670. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Health:

I refer to the minister's media statement on 14 April announcing that he will be undertaking an international recruitment campaign for nurses and midwives.

(1) Why has the United Kingdom's advertising campaign only just commenced, as reported on Seven news?

(2) If it takes so long to get marketing creatives made, as the minister has asserted, why did he not start work on this campaign when a life-threatening workforce shortage was first identified?

Mr R.H. COOK replied:

(1)–(2) I want people to understand that the recruitment campaign was already underway. That is why we have seen over 150 doctors come from the United Kingdom and Ireland already. We have seen many more nurses come from the UK and Ireland already. As a result of our budget, we allocated $2 million to make sure that we could provide the right sort of campaign necessary to boost those efforts and significantly increase the number of doctors and nurses who are attracted to Western Australia.

The Leader of the Liberal Party would not be familiar with budgetary processes. We saw the contempt that the Liberal Party showed for the state's finances when it was in government. I understand why there is an element of confusion when it comes to issues such as costings, finances, budgetary approvals and making sure that there is proper oversight of the process.

Mr M. McGowan: Adding up.

Mr R.H. COOK: And adding up, as the Premier has just interjected. I understand that that is a level of confusion and a dark grey area for the Liberal Party. It has a bit of a knowledge gap. From that perspective, it does not appreciate what goes on to make sure that we have these effective policies.

The reason we have proceeded carefully is that we are already in the field. We wanted to make sure that the creatives were right and that they would resonate with the people whom we are targeting. As I said in previous answers today, we have already seen just under 1 000 nurses, but over 1 000 nurses, assistants in nursing and midwives come to be part of our healthcare workforce. As I said, over 150 doctors have come from Ireland and the UK since January this year. So, we are making good progress. Obviously, the Belong campaign is an important part of that recruitment. That will now significantly increase and ramp up. We will continue to recruit as part of our $71.6 million healthcare workforce support package to make sure that we can continue to provide world-class health care.