NEW South Wales premier Mike Baird says he will review and adjust the current death and disability scheme for paramedics, so that it becomes in line with that of the police force.
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Local paramedic Scott Duffy was one of 70 from across the state who went to parliament in Sydney for the meeting with the premier on October 19.
Paramedics are unhappy with the changes under the new scheme introduced by the New South Wales government on August 20.
Mr Duffy said paramedics were twice as likely to be injured on the job than police, seven times more likely to be seriously injured than other workers and six times more likely to be killed on the job.
Under their current death and disability scheme, ambulance officers will receive a maximum two years of compensation where as police officers can claim up to seven.
The premier addressed all the paramedics following a meeting with four representatives and said he will reconfigure the insurance cover over a 90 day period.
Mr Duffy said Mr Baird acknowledged that the current level of protection needs to be fixed.
At the meeting Mr Baird said he would like the paramedics to halt their public campaign while the review was conducted.
Paramedics discussed the proposal but told Mr Baird that they would not back down from publicly campaigning for better insurance protection.
Mr Duffy said it has already rallied a large amount of public support.
“We have got the people of NSW on our side and especially those who live in country areas,” he said.
Mr Duffy has appealed to local politicians to publicly support the campaign and said it is disappointing that they have not committed to backing paramedics.
He said the chalking of the side of the ambulance would continue but paramedics may change their slogans to be reflective of the premier’s proposal to fix their insurance cover in 90 days.
Mr Duffy said the invitation to the meeting in Sydney was unexpected, as their previous push for a discussion had not been acted on.