Belly, I don't quite know how you off shore an ambulance officers job, & no they have not off shored the call centers quite yet, all though they may as well have when we can get a WA operator who has no idea of SE Qld.

I'll agree with the money, but in the emergency area of hospitals. It is hard for an ambulance crew sitting for hours, with a patient, at a hospital forecourt to be doing what they are hired for.

When I was transferred by ambulance, to PA hospital cardiac unit recently, there were 8 ambulances sitting outside the emergency entrance, motors & air conditioning running. The stink of diesel fumes was almost overpowering, when they wheeled me out of the vehicle.

My paramedic said he was often stuck there, with a patient for a couple or three hours.

It is not the union to blame, it's Anna Bligh, & Peter Beattie where the problem lies, as with most of Queensland's problems.

Dear rehctub,

I heard about the case on the news and felt
appalled that this could happen.

I don't know enough about it to be able
to judge as to why it happened,I only know the
matter is under investigation, and we can
only hope that it doesn't happen again.

As a neighbour stated, "If only he'd come
to us we would have taken him to hospital,
and he'd be alive today."

If only.

As a neighbour stated, "If only he'd come
to us we would have taken him to hospital,
and he'd be alive today."

If only.

Well that's fine foxy. I don't know what your situation is, but here in QLD, you have no choice other than to be an ambulance subscriber, so, having fully paid your subscription, surely you should be entitled to the service when required, rather than relying on a nieghbour.

Now assumming they have compulsory subsciptions in Vic, the blame lies fair and square on the service as they have collected the fee, so they must provide the goods, otherwise it is theft.

And belly, surely you're not trying to deny the fact that it is the unuions who have insisted on a meal break within a certain timeframe, along with many other conditions.

Now if I were short staffed, and busy, I would stagger my breaks and expect common sense to take presidence in the final washup should my actions be questioned.

But then again, being a small business person, I am wholey accountable for my actions, both morally and financially.

BTW, if someone did stuff up, resulting in the loss of a life, unfair dismissal will give them two more chances to reoffend.

I say again, we are a joke in this country with our black and white IR laws.

weary of defending public sector workers.
Roll your self up in a ball, wrap your self in cling rap then tar over It all, try to do your job.
Only in the public sector are workers so confined by sillyness they can not do the job.
I refuse to blame a union for this IR laws are unchanged in meal times.
I want you bloke to know this is true both storys are my real life ones from yesterday.
EVERY worker union or not called on me to put a case to management, that 4 workers are not putting in, not working dragging them down.
strange work for me.
I Reminded the public servant it was and that jobs could be lost if he failed to act, he set out a 12 months improvement plan, agreed with me it would not work refused to try an instant fix.
A mob of thugs and mugs raided a work site abused my delegate and told him he would be sued for? not being prepared to join the bunch of criminals
Not every fault is union based or even worker based slugs who will not work fools who cannot are not being dumped in my yard.

I heard about the case on the news and felt
appalled that this could happen.
Foxy,
I am very saddened by these all too frequent occasions, be it health, education and/or law/policing. I tried to help vote the culprits out. May I ask what you do towards reducing these incidents when you hear about them ? It seems to me that at least %50 don't want things to change. Why else didn't they do anything about it at the last election ?

What is the point or arguing against and trying to fight all this? It is good to discuss the pros and cons of any topic. Complaining and venting about it helps get frustration out. There is such a small minority that really cares and want to make a difference. The laws were made because some people think it's better to be safer then sorry. So others have to pay by being limited to what they can do because of someone else's mistake.

The way I look at it, they should all make us live in one of those germ-free balls in a padded secure room :), no risk at all... except to maybe go insane.. ha ha ha

Life is full of risk. Risk is what makes life worth living. The choices we make in life makes us the person we are today. We learn from our mistakes in our past, and try never to repeat them again.

No point trying to live in the past. We can only learn from all the wrongs, live for the present and work to make a difference in our future. Trying to argue with the law will just be a waste of time and in that time so much more good can be done.