26 August 2024
ASMIRT is calling for expressions of interest from member volunteers across Australia to form a working party on national industrial standards.
This follows a meeting between the ASMIRT Board and union and association representatives from across Australia, to discuss the disparity between states in terms of award, job title, structure and recognition of advanced practice for Medical Radiation Practitioners.
The aim is to come up with a consistent benchmark and evidence applicable for industrial negotiations across the country, with each state agreeing on a national framework of evidence for improved and consistent industrial outcomes.
MRPs will form the working party alongside union and association representatives.
Please send your EOI to Amarnie.McVean@asmirt.org
As medical radiation practitioners who have worked in multiple states will know, pay and conditions vary between states.
In Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, Medical Radiation Practitioners are paid the same wages regardless of discipline, while in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory, radiographers and radiation therapists are paid according to separate pay scales.
Then there are the different ways states classify medical radiation skills and experience within enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs), from “grades 1-7”, to “health practitioner levels 1-8”, and “levels 1-3”.
These are just a few examples of a wide range of inconsistencies.
ASMIRT President Carolyn Heyes says consistency is vital in acknowledging people’s skills and experience.
“We all have the same qualification, so we should be treated the same, no matter what state we live and work in,” she says.
The working party will also discuss Advanced Practice, and whether it should be recognised in EBAs the same way university study is recognised.
