The Health Minister has apologised for the cancellation of over 500 surgeries caused by a statewide nurses' strike. Nurses are demanding a 15 percent pay increase to address staff shortages and prevent migration interstate.
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00:00After months of asking for a better deal, nurses are running out of patience.
00:10We've been forced to the streets because this government has ignored us and taken us for
00:16granted.
00:19Chris Min swept to power on a promise to lift nurses' pay and conditions.
00:23Today they rallied outside his office to tell him his offer of 10.5% over three years just
00:29won't cut it.
00:30I'm not going to take it anymore.
00:31It's a kick in the guts.
00:32It really is.
00:33It does not feel like we're being respected for the professionals that we are.
00:42The Premier wasn't in, but he couldn't escape one nurse's fury on talkback radio.
00:47I am exhausted.
00:48I am only doing this protest because we have no other avenue.
00:52It's not safe anymore for nurses or patients.
00:5515% for nurses, I think the police and then the teachers and then the corrections officers
01:01and then those that work for paramedics would quite rightly knock on my door the very next
01:05day and say, well, we want 15% as well.
01:07Nurses took their campaign statewide with a pointed message for those holding the purse
01:12strings, defying an order from the Industrial Relations Commission to halt the strike.
01:17The government says 3,813 staff walked off the job, meaning 518 planned surgeries had
01:24to be cancelled.
01:25I'm very sorry to anyone who has missed their surgery today or waiting longer.
01:30The Minister says he is delivering on a key union demand for nurse-to-patient ratios,
01:35but the opposition says the government over-promised before the election.
01:39This is what happens when you're two-faced.
01:41The government and nurses will return to the negotiating table on Thursday.