‘We haven’t done nothing’: NSW Premier Chris Minns doubles down as nurses walk off job for better pay

NSW Premier Chris Minns has doubled down amid an illegal 12-hour nurse strike, claiming the government has presented a “fair offer” to nurses who are demanding better pay. The NSW Nurses & Midwives Association (NSWNMA) has demanded a 15 per cent one-year pay rise, however the state government has instead proposed a 10.5 per cent increase across three years. Jane, a NSW nurse, was dialled in to 2GB to have a chat with NSW Premier Chris Minns on Tuesday morning, telling him she was “exhausted”. She said while the action was about money, there were also safety issues facing nurses and patients. “It’s not safe anymore for nurses or patients; you need to walk through a NSW Health hospital just to see that yourself,” Jane said on 2GB. However Mr Minns said he believed the government had “presented a fair offer to the nurses” by offering more than the previous government. “I understand it may not be acceptable, but the government has said that if we can’t get to an agreement on our offer, the offer that’s on the table, we’re prepared to accept the decision of the independent umpire with the industrial relations court in NSW,” Mr Minns said. Mr Minns assured Jane that he had walked through hospitals both as the Premier and to visit loved ones, emphasising he knows the “dedication” and “commitment” needed to be an essential worker in NSW. “But I want to say, and this is really important, we haven’t done nothing. We’ve worked really closely with the nurses association,” Mr Minns said. Mr Minns acknowledged inflation and high interest rates could prompt nurses to say the offer wasn’t good enough. “But we’ve said that we’re prepared to have that arbitrated by the independent umpire,” he said as Jane cut him off. “Inflation is killing us. It’s killing me, it’s killing everybody that I know,” she said. “It’s the No. 1 conversation in every team room. And then they ask us to do more shifts … we are so exhausted.” Mr Minns said Jane and other nurses had worked “incredibly hard on behalf of NSW taxpayers” but if a 15 per cent one-year increase was implemented it would cost $6.5bn – more than the government spends on the entire police force in a year. “I respect the work that you’re doing, but I have to be honest about our capacity to pay,” he said. The NSWNMA has slammed the government’s proposal, with NSWNMA general secretary Shaye Candish claiming the government is “choosing to pay nurses and midwives the lowest wages in the country”. “Not once in our 10 negotiation meetings has the government sat at the table and discussed nurses and midwives’ pay,” Ms Candish said. “Nurses and midwives shouldn’t have to foot the bill for safe staffing ratios in our public hospitals and forgo a decent pay rise – there’s no other workforce that’s been required to pay for their own resources. “It’s clear the state government is choosing to pay nurses and midwives the lowest wages in the country, and it will continue to see our public health system fall apart if it doesn’t pay nurses and midwives enough to stay in NSW.” Emergency room wait times are expected to blow out as a result of the strike. It’s understood minimal life-preserving staff will remain in public hospitals and health services across the strike action, which began at 7am on Tuesday. A protest also formed outside Mr Minns’ office in Kogarah at 9.30am on Tuesday. The strike action has been ruled illegal by the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC), with NSW Health Minister Ryan Park saying the strike could result in longer emergency room wait times and the cancellation of non-emergency surgeries. “The IRC has made orders to cease the strike action immediately. Unions fought for this independent industrial court and commission and we hope the Association complies with its orders,” Mr Park said. “There is no doubt such action will impact on our public health system, from longer waits in emergency rooms to cancelled non-emergency surgeries.”