Call for ombudsman to tackle 'systemic' bullying in emergency services
Workplace bullying is so rife in state emergency services it needs the independent regulation of an external ombudsman, a NSW parliamentary inquiry has found.
The cross-party legal affairs committee has recommended the creation of an external complaints body like an ombudsman in response to revelations of systemic bullying within all emergency services, including the ambulance, police, fire, state emergency and rescue.
The complaints body has been recommended to help workers who have exhausted internal complaints avenues within their agency.
The legal affairs portfolio committee is chaired by Robert Borsak from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and includes Liberal Party MPs David Clarke and Catherine Cusack, and Nationals MP Trevor Khan. Lynda Voltz and Peter Primrose represent the ALP and Greens MP David Shoebridge is the deputy chairman.
Mr Borsak said the committee heard many disturbing stories from emergency services workers who had been subjected to bullying, harassment and discrimination in the workplace, and whose complaints were not managed effectively, in a timely manner or with impartiality.
"One of our key recommendations is for the NSW government to establish an independent, external complaints management oversight body for workplace bullying, harassment and discrimination across the five emergency services agencies," Mr Borsak said.
"The committee also heard of the need for much greater focus on the mental health of first responders, given the critical role they play within our communities. The committee has made a number of recommendations to make employee mental health a priority action across the emergency services agencies, and to do more research on developing effective mental health interventions for our first responders."
Mr Shoebridge, who is also the Greens' spokesman on industrial relations, said the committee inquiry revealed that while bullying problems in the NSW Ambulance Service were the most extreme, every emergency service had an "unacceptable and endemic problem with bullying and harassment".
“We need to do more than just say sorry, it’s time to deliver a truly independent body to address bullying and harassment,” he said. “The damage that poor management and systemic bullying has done to emergency service workers is little short of criminal.
“We saw case, after case, after case where internal complaints on bullying were ignored, downplayed or else turned on the victim. This can’t be allowed to continue. When management and entrenched power structures are part of the bullying problem, there needs to be an independent body for emergency service workers to go to."
Mr Shoebridge said it was essential recommendations from the report were urgently implemented so that emergency service workers could feel safe and supported at work.
He said the isolation and small size of many ambulance stations had left junior paramedics and staff especially vulnerable to bullying and harassment.
“One way to address the vulnerability and isolation of paramedics is to deliver far greater integration between NSW Health and the Ambulance service so paramedics are in larger, more supportive structures," he said. “We have seen report after report on bullying highlight problems but fail to deliver the structural reform that’s needed."