Abetz slashes paramedic overtime

Eric Abetz is cutting $5.6 million from the paramedic overtime budget as part of his $700 million cuts to the health system. Bridget Archer is backing the cut in, even though paramedics are already stretched to breaking point.

Right to Information data obtained by Labor shows that keeping ambulances on the road took 125,725 hours of paramedic overtime in 2025-26, at a cost of $12.7 million.

This year, the Liberals have budgeted just $7.1 million. That is a 44 per cent cut on what was needed.

Overtime exists because Ambulance Tasmania doesn’t have enough paramedics. If the Liberals were hiring the paramedics needed to fill those shifts, spending less on overtime would be a good thing.

But they aren’t. The paramedic shortage hasn’t gone away, so the shifts still need to be covered. The only difference is that the Liberals won’t fund them.

That leaves two outcomes. Either the same exhausted paramedics are pushed even harder, or shifts go unfilled and fewer ambulances are on the road.

Tasmanians are already feeling the consequences. Cases with no ambulance available at dispatch jumped 30 per cent last year. Cutting the overtime budget without recruiting more paramedics will only make it worse.

Our paramedics are doing everything they can, but the Liberals are asking them to do more with less.

Instead of standing up for paramedics like she should, Bridget Archer is backing Eric Abetz’s cuts all the way.

After 13 years of Liberal waste, Premier Rockliff has put Eric Abetz in charge of cutting jobs and services, and Tasmanians calling triple zero will pay the price.