Bullying Health Minister Michael Ferguson has officially launched his hostile and extreme attack on Tasmanian nurses by carrying through with his threats to punish them for taking part in industrial action.
Shadow Health Minister Sarah Lovell said Michael Ferguson's blatant and unprecedented threats to nurses and other health staff last week came to fruition today when the names of nurses involved in a stop work meeting at the Mersey Community Hospital were officially recorded so their pay could be docked.
"This intimidating tactic is the latest from an incompetent Health Minister who – along with his colleagues – has not even attempted to act fairly in negotiations on realistic and reasonable pay for public sector workers," Ms Lovell said.
"And while he has the backing of the Premier, Will Hodgman was today unaware that this action this morning had taken place.
"The Premier has lost control of this rogue Minister and that was more than proven today when he did not know what Michael Ferguson had done to nurses this morning.
"This is a hostile, extreme move by Michael Ferguson which is unprecedented in Tasmania's history.
"His disastrous performance as Health Minister – with patients waiting for days in emergency departments, with ambulances ramped for hours on end – is very well documented.
"But today he has sunk to a completely new low."
Sarah Lovell MLC
Shadow Health and Preventative Health Care Minister
