SEND PARAMEDIC THUGS TO JAIL

HEALTH Minister Cameron Dick dropped a stunning bombshell last year as paramedics and the public were calling for a tough response from the Government in dealing with violent patients who assault frontline health workers.

On the one hand he had given the green light for paramedics to chemically sedate out-of-control patients who were attacking ambulance officers. The minister was to be applauded for telling officers they would have the same legal protection when forced to use the drug as any other registered practitioner in Queensland.

But then Mr Dick said sedation was just one tool now available but it would not solve the problem of community violence. “That’s something the community has to solve,’’ he declared.

With respect, he was wrong. Queenslanders elect governments with the expectation they will lead and legislate to ensure public safety, which obviously extends to all emergency workers. Certainly parents, families, employers, schools, the clergy and other pillars of the community have a big role to play, but the massive and dangerous problems of domestic violence or use of the drug ice, for example, illustrate that dangerous behaviour among a significant percentage of the population is beyond the control of ordinary citizens.

The State Government continues to back away from its responsibilities. This week, as the Bulletin reported a “triple-0 crisis’’ in which ambulance officers are being assaulted and threatened in increasing numbers, the office of Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath refused to support mandatory sentencing that would ensure people who attacked paramedics were automatically locked away.

The spokesperson said the courts were best placed to determine appropriate sentences and besides, the laws were such that judges could jail offenders. This is true, but how often do the courts jail the idiots? And if that discretionary option is such a deterrent, why aren’t thugs thinking twice before lashing out?

At some point individuals have to be responsible for their actions. If their crimes result in others and paramedics being injured, then jail must be the only option. The certainty of jail will have an impact.

The Government can’t keep looking the other way and hoping for the best.