THE Canberra Liberals are pushing for an independent pay audit to combat wage theft at the Canberra Hospital, but Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith says there is already an investigation underway. 

A disappointed Ms Stephen-Smith hit back at shadow health minister Vicki Dunne this afternoon (August 20) after Mrs Dunne accused Ms Stephen-Smith of being complicit in wage theft.

“Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith has known about this ever since she became the health minister but has done nothing to fix the situation. This makes Minister Stephen-Smith complicit in wage theft,” Mrs Dunne said this morning.

To that, Ms Stephen-Smith said she’s disappointed with the way that Mrs Dunne has raised this matter.

“At the beginning of the week she put forward a motion for the assembly that was simply about thanking our health care workers for the incredible job that they have done during COVID-19,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. 

“At the eleventh hour, she amended that motion for something that she has never sought a briefing on, has never raised and if she had sought a briefing, I could have let her know that these issues have been already raised with Canberra Health Services.

“Canberra Health Services is already looking into this. There is already an investigation underway as there consistently is whenever a staff member or their union representative raises concerns about any pay and conditions, those conditions will be examined. 

“We are also investing [tens of millions of dollars] in a system called the HRIMS, the Human Resources Information Management System renewal, which will address a number of issues that currently exist in terms of marrying up the rosters from ACT Health with shared services payment system.

“We absolutely investigate these matters as soon as they come up to make sure all of our staff are paid appropriately.” 

Mrs Dunne said otherwise, arguing that junior doctors and wardsmen have been the victims of wage theft at the Canberra Hospital.

She said ridiculous administrative burdens on top of unconscionable work hours are robbing health workers of overtime entitlements.

Junior doctors are forced to work between 80 and 90 hours per week and are not given adequate rostered days off due to chronic understaffing and significantly cumbersome shortcomings in the payroll system has resulted in overworked hospital staff being robbed of overtime pay which they are legally entitled to, she said.

“This amounts to wages theft,” Mrs Dunne said.

“Wage theft at the Canberra Hospital must be urgently investigated, and staff compensated.

“Hospital staff, especially junior doctors, are tired, sick and burnt out from working double shifts – up to 80 and 90 hours per week – in a highly stressful workplace.

“But, for a junior doctor to claim overtime is onerous, and administratively difficult to process. They know that they are regularly underpaid.

“The Labor-Greens Government has failed our health workers and it is time that those workers received wage justice.”