Mr THOMAS GEORGE (Lismore) [1.21 p.m.]: Over the past few months in this House it has been said that 400 jobs would be cut from the North Coast Area Health Service. This week the Richmond Specialist Palliative Care Service received a major blow with the decision of the North Coast Area Health Service to cut the position of palliative care social worker, as the department struggles with its budget. This palliative care social worker position, which operates 18 hours a week, services approximately 100 patients a month—that is, 800 patients since last February. To cut this important position to save 18 hours a week shows how low this Government can go.

People in country areas cannot hop in a car, drive down the road and access these services. They do not have access to transport. They rely on social workers to visit them. Families and friends of many members of this House have required these services. The social workers provide a much-needed service at a difficult time, giving advice to people on financial matters and other services. They come under the banner of social service because they fulfil a social need in the community, particularly for those who require palliative care. This position cut follows cuts to other services. Previously, services have been lost from outlying areas, such as Kyogle, Bonalbo and Casino, the seat of the member for Clarence, Steve Cansdell. Every time a service is cut or a vacancy arises, we are told that the service will be replaced or that the vacant position will be advertised. However, it does not occur for six, 12 or 18 months in the hope that the community will not keep applying pressure to have these services reinstated.

When these services are taken away from country and regional areas, the local community does not have access to transport to city centres. There are no bus services from Bonalbo to Casino or from Kyogle to Lismore. People can catch a school bus but they have to get up at 7.00 a.m. and travel with 50 or 60 schoolchildren. This is typical of the North Coast Area Health Service's delivery of health services to the Northern Rivers community. Concerns have been raised with me about staff cutbacks and the non-replacement of staff who are on sick leave, long service leave or recreation leave, placing staff under greater pressure and impacting on patient safety. As has been mentioned in the House on a number of occasions, 400 front-line staff will be cut from the North Coast Area Health Service.

At a union rally of nurses in Lismore on 5 August, I was told that staff were threatened that their pay would be docked if they attended during an unpaid half-hour lunch break. A photograph of the rally on the front page of the Northern Star clearly shows no attendance by nurses in uniform, only by off-duty nurses. A nurse manager has been forced to perform clinical duties with no management hours allowed. Registered nurses are being replaced by enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing in many critical and acute care settings. The nursing management at Ballina and Lismore and at Kyogle, Urbanville and Nimbin are being combined. Professional services at these hospitals, which are required at a critical stage in treatment, will not be able to be provided if the North Coast Area Health Service continues to make these ridiculous cutbacks on the basis of financial management.