In an earlier post I reported on the decision of the Industrial Relations Commission to prohibit some industrial action by the Australian Paramedics Association (one of the sponsors of this blog) – see Proposed industrial action by NSW Ambulance paramedics prohibited by Industrial Relations Commission (May 13, 2023).  The date of that decision was 10 May and it related to action that was intended to take place on 11 May 2023.

On 25 May the Commission made further orders prohibiting different industrial action that was planned to commence on that day and run until 1 June – Health Secretary in respect of NSW Ambulance v Australian Paramedics Association (NSW) [2023] NSWIRComm 1056. (All those dates have passed but the judgement has only come to my attention today).  The intended action was a ban on staff movements so that paramedics would refuse to move to another station to fill gaps in the roster (see [3]).

The health secretary argued (at [6]) that the proposed action would pose a risk to public safety as:

  1. It reduces the number of dual crew paramedics and creates a delay in getting care to patients in the community;
  2. It creates more single crew paramedics, and it is preferable to have dual crews; and
  3. It will have an adverse impact on the dispatch of ambulances because of the complications that the Ambulance Service will face in not being able to readily identify where resources are available.

At [14] Commissioner Muir said:

I have concluded that it is common ground that the Ambulance Service is stretched. Almost inevitably then, the public interest will be harmed by industrial action, which will have a negative impact on the ability of the Service to respond to calls for help and to a level that warrants the intervention of the Commission. It appears to be obvious that this would have a greater impact the further the location is from central metropolitan Sydney. Indeed, the examples in evidence were those in such places, for example Katoomba and Moree… It is true that the dispute orders are unlikely themselves to resolve the dispute, but that object is not the only point of a dispute order.

Orders were made requiring the APA, its officers and employees to terminate the industrial action and ‘cease and refrain from authorising, organising, supporting, or encouraging’ the ‘Ban on Staff Movements’ industrial action.  The APA was required to notify its members, via email, of the Commission’s orders and to report to the Health Secretary of the steps it had taken to communicate the Commission’s orders to its members.

The Commission’s orders only related to the action that was intended to run from 25 May to 1 June 2023 that is it is not a blanket ban on such action into the future.

This blog is made possible with generous financial support from the Australasian College of Paramedicine, the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW), Natural Hazards Research Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service Association and the NSW SES Volunteers Association. I am responsible for the content in this post including any errors or omissions. Any opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or understanding of the donors.