Premier and part-time Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff has failed at the first hurdle in his claim that he withdrew from his New Zealand trade mission to focus on fixing the crisis in the health system.
If Mr Rockliff was genuine and serious about focusing his energies on the broken hospital system, his first priority would have been to come to the table with nurses to negotiate a way forward.
Instead he has failed and nursing staff will stage a strike action at the Launceston General Hospital on Wednesday.
Industrial action is a last resort for our exhausted, overworked and underpaid frontline health staff but they have been left with no option by Mr Rockliff's weak leadership.
The Premier now has less than two days to make an effort to "focus on the current challenges within our health system" as he said at the weekend.
But there appears to be no genuine plan to deal with unprecedented pressure in Tasmania's hospitals as Mr Rockliff fails to get the basics right.
Anita Dow MP
Shadow Health Minister
