AWU Queensland Secretary Stacey Schinnerl will front a Parliamentary Committee hearing today to call on the Government to make it clearer in the law that assaults on Queensland Health operational workers should be treated as 'serious assault'.
Section 340 of the Criminal Code 1899 provides for a crime of 'serious assault' against offenders who assault public officers at work.
There has long been confusion in the Queensland Health workforce about whether assaults perpetrated against certain employees are provided for in the Code.
This confusion is being caused by a very high rate of assault in the workplace, with very few charges of 'serious assault' laid on perpetrators who commit violence against staff.
The underutilisation of this section for assaults against Queensland Health operational workers would indicate that the current wording of the section does not clearly include these workers, especially considering the extreme rates of violence in their workplaces.
The AWU is of the firm belief that the Bill should be amended to clarify the scope of s340 of the Code to make it clear that the crime of 'serious assault' extends to offenders who assault Queensland Health operational workers while they are performing their work.
"Public hospital workers are subject to escalating levels of violence in the workplace," Ms Schinnerl said.
"Recent data provided by Queensland Health to the Courier Mail in May suggested that we were on track to record over 45 assaults on hospital staff per day in the 2023 – 2024 financial year."
"Every worker deserves to come home at the end of their shift the same way they started it, and every worker deserves to be safe at work."
"The AWU is unapologetic in the belief that offenders who perpetrate violence against public servants in the course of their duty should face the full extent of the law."
"The current rate of violence in our public hospitals is an embarrassment to our society and requires serious action."
