Ambulance Service sells off and sells out

by Nathan Barnes

The NSW Ambulance Service last week sold eight of its ambulance stations in 
metropolitan Sydney, auctioned off for $16 million. The stations will now 
be leased back to the Ambulance Service, an arrangement the ambulance 
officers' union calls "a case of false economy".

The false economy is the selling off of stations for the short-term benefit 
of paying bills and creditors, and then having to constantly outlay money 
to lease the property back.

In July last year ambulance officers and their union, the Health and 
Research Employees' Association (HREA), raised concerns about the plans to 
sell off and lease back stations.

Earlier that year the union began a campaign to address a chronic shortage 
of trained officers. A five-year agreement with the Service — the 
Operational Review — on staffing levels had been constantly undermined by 
Ambulance Service management.

The auctioned ambulance stations — at Balgowlah, Bankstown, Marrickville, 
Lane Cove, Katoomba, Richmond and St Ives — will be leased back to the 
Service for 10 years, with options to extend it to 20 years. Earlier this 
year the stations at Castle Hill, Ryde and Avalon were sold.

The union is also concerned that the cash-strapped service will use the 
money to pay overdue bills instead of investing in the future of the 
service.

"Our members have opposed the proposal to sell off Sydney ambulance 
stations as a case of false economy as the Ambulance Service is now going 
to have to enter into lease arrangements to lease back the eight stations", 
said HREA General Secretary Michael Williamson.

"However, the $16 million raised yesterday at the auction should remove all 
obstacles to the implementation of the Operational Review, in particular 
its findings on the need for additional staffing."

Ambulance Service CEO Greg Rochford talked up the contracting out, claiming 
that leasing the stations was cheaper.

But there was no mention of extra staff from Rochford who was all talk 
about defibrillators and the purchase of extra vehicles and refurbishing 
and redeveloping other stations.

No surprise there. During the staffing dispute last year Rochford blamed 
ambulance officers, the staff and the union for lags in ambulance response 
times.

The union says management has wasted money on stop-gap measures such as 
large amounts of overtime instead of engaging in strategic recruiting to 
address short-term and long-term staffing needs.

"For years now the Service has been saying that it is unable to fully meet 
staffing requirements because it lacks the funds to do so", said Mr 
Williamson. "Clearly, the Service cannot use that excuse anymore."