What extraordinary and difficult times we are experiencing as healthcare professionals. We are more than two years in and still fighting a global pandemic. The consequences of the rapid escalation of the Omicron variants and the devastating floods have wreaked havoc in Queensland and NSW. These have created considerable challenges, placing enormous pressures on our healthcare systems and those vital people who hold them together, the nurses, midwives and care workers.

Despite these many challenges, ANMF members have continued to care for the community. They have worked long hours under considerable strain, often working double shifts in full PPE, dealing with increased work demands, and constantly adapting to the fast pace of changing policies, often coping with a covid fatigued community.

We have also witnessed the courage of ANMF members as they took industrial action to fight for legislated staffing ratios and better pay in NSW. Similarly, aged care nurses and care workers protested across the country on 1 March to mark the one year anniversary of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Royal Commission report and express their disgust that the much-anticipated reform in this sector has been largely ignored.

With a Federal election result now known and the consequent change of government, there is hope that the crisis in aged care will finally be addressed. It remains critical that the new federal government strive to implement policies that respect and genuinely value the work of nurses, midwives and care workers so we can continue to deliver safe healthcare that the community deserves.