Staffing is so stretched in Mildura that Ambulance Victoria has been flying paramedics from Melbourne into Mildura to respond to emergencies. More and more community members are complaining that they are unable to receive an ambulance when they are in need. This means community members are needlessly suffering because of Ambulance Victoria's understaffing issue. “Nightshifts are the worst…we simply don’t have enough ambulances at night.” – Mildura Paramedic Increasingly, Paramedic Crews from Ouyen and Robinvale are being sent to Mildura to assist with workload, leaving the towns uncovered for dangerously long periods of time. It's not unusual for patients to wait extraordinary amounts of time for an ambulance in Ouyen and Robinvale. Paramedic crews are also being split and having to respond in unequipped ambulances just to meet service demands which is risky for patients and paramedics alike. “I'm exhausted from the workload… we just can’t keep up.” – Mildura Paramedic When our healthcare workers are fatigued, overworked and split up, they are at risk of making clinical errors. The Mildura community deserves to receive timely emergency care from paramedics who are not stretched to their limits.

Nursing staff at Regis Aged Care have expressed through recent rallies that management’s proposed Enterprise Agreement is an insult, and strips away many of our hard-fought working conditions. Regis nursing staff already get paid less than other providers, yet management’s proposed wage increases – just 1% for some, and 2% for others – are cuts in real wages of more than 3 to 4%, given the recent 5.1% increase in cost of living. Adding to this insult, management wants to cut so many of our working conditions and refuses to address understaffing and excessive workloads. We work so hard to care for our residents in extremely difficult circumstances. The least management can do is treat us with respect by providing fair wages and conditions. If management don’t significantly improve their offer, the majority of staff are likely to vote NO to the proposed Enterprise Agreement.

In Victoria, the largely unregulated private rehabilitation services mean that working people are often confronted with re-mortgaging their house, taking out loans, or withdrawing their superannuation to pay for services that can cost up to $30,000 per month. Victoria’s rehabilitation system is mostly inaccessible for working people, as most stays are between 3 months and 12 months. In Australia it takes an average of 20 years for a person to seek assistance for addiction due to shame and stigma and this is a trend that is appearing across all shop floors and all industries across the State It’s clear that the current system of treatment isn’t working and requires fresh ideas and methodologies for providing suitable treatment to working people and their families and funding models that work both for patients, employers and the government. We are proposing a tri-partisan collaboration with Odyssey House for a 28-day inpatient treatment facility funded and owned by the trade union movement after an initial investment from the Andrews’ Labor Government coupled with the establishment of an outreach and outpatient service, inclusive of toolbox talks for delegates, health and safety representatives, organisers and working people from all sectors with the support of trade unions, employers and the government. We need innovative, sophisticated solutions to complex issues such as addiction. We know that we have the most cost-effective, fit-for-purpose model for working Victorians to ease the burden on our already overcrowded healthcare system. Workplace support and early intervention are crucial in supporting workers combating addiction and mental health struggles. The opening of The Crossing will change the lives of workers struggling with addiction — as well as those of their families, their workmates, and their community.

BN Multi need to hear it from their consumers that their multivitamin chews product needs a revamp that is more appealing to bariatrics. This will make taking vitamins for bariatrics, especially in early stages post-op, to have their vitamin intake without waiting till later stages of their journey where most will just wait till they can take capsules.

Cost of living keeps going up while wages and conditions are continually eroded away, people receiving government support are trying to get by with just $42 a day and living in poverty. The gap between wages for men and women is still around 22.8%. The dream of owning your own home has become out of reach for too many people with rentals also becoming more unaffordable, meaning the demand for public housing is increasing.

These nurses and carers love caring for their residents, but they have been stretched to breaking point by heavy workloads, poor wages and tough working conditions. During the COVID-19 pandemic they have gone above and beyond to keep their residents safe, working double shifts of up to 16 hours, working through their lunch breaks, and often working short staffed. We care about the quality of aged care in Queensland and we call on Arcare management to give their hard-working nurses and carers a fair pay rise.

These proposed laws seek to entrench discrimination and vilification of LGBTQ people, as well as women, people with disabilities, and single parents, on the pretext of religious freedom. The bill will: 1. Override state laws to allow any person making a ‘statement of belief’ to discriminate against queer people, women, and people with disabilities. 2. Allow religious schools to discriminate at the point of enrolment against queer students, and continue to discipline and fire queer teachers - under the guise of 'religious freedom'. 3. Prevent public health services from ensuring patients aren’t discriminated against by health practitioners exercising ‘religious freedom’. 4. Prevent universities from requiring students to meet professional standards if they object to them on religious grounds Federal Labor has made only the mildest of technical recommendations to reform the current draft of the bill, failing to address some of the most damaging aspects of the legislation. As Labor members, we are asked to finance, volunteer for, and otherwise fight with our MPs for our rights as working people. Our party is failing to stand up for our values, and for vulnerable communities, by supporting this bill.

Australia's pharmacists were chronically underpaid before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, but with the added pressures brought by the health crisis, more are now burnt out than ever before with many opting to leave the profession. Until pay rates increase, the industry will struggle to retain and attract professionals, increasing the already significant skill shortage.

The Palaszczuk Government has failed to provide direction to universities to ensure a safe and healthy university sector in Queensland. As a result, Vice-Chancellors have made different plans at different universities, creating confusion and inequity and placing staff and students at risk. We need Queensland Health and the Department of Education to sit down with the NTEU and university managements to come up with a uniform plan to make Universities as safe as possible. All university staff, students and their families should sign this petition.

Currently in Australia, a Royal Commission is looking into the shocking cases of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with a disability and Inclusive Education has been recommended during the hearings, utilising the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 9 and 24 (see reference below). These UN Articles can’t be properly implemented in our public schools unless we provide access to people who use wheelchairs. 15-20% of people in Australia have a disability. It makes sense to include disabled people in our community - we are not going away! If you have an understanding of inclusion and don't believe in segregation in our public schools, please sign this petition and share it so we can make this change for our future generations to learn to accept diversity from the time they start school. Thank you for sticking up for those who might be a little different you! Remember - it could be you next who might need to use a mobility device and need to be included... https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-2.html https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/

People with endometriosis in South Australia are suffering without excision surgeries, the only gold standard treatment for endometriosis which have been cancelled or moved indefinitely. Sufferers have done the right thing and have waited months or years for their diagnostic or further treatment surgeries and have now been left in the dark. Having endometriosis isn’t a CHOICE, and the surgery isn’t an elective one but an essential one to be able to live. We know that endometriosis kills and can severely impact internal organs if left untreated. Please bring some light to people suffering with this debilitating condition.

Scott Morrison has left people who are sick, or working in essential jobs, unable to access the Rapid Antigen Tests they need to keep them safe and keep things running. RATs should be free and accessible for all through Medicare. Because Scott Morrison failed yet again, they are not. He failed to deliver a national quarantine system, stuffed up the vaccine rollout, has left our aged care system in crisis, our hospitals struggling to keep up – and now we don’t have access to the tests we need to keep our workplaces and our families safe.