Doctors strike called off after 12-month deal
A 12-hour doctors strike due across Victorian hospitals on 21 October has been cancelled after doctors reached a 12-month interim agreement with the Carroll Labor Government.
AMA/ASMOF Victoria said the stop-work action had been scheduled from 7 am to 7 pm over what the group described as the government’s failure to address understaffing, unsafe working conditions and the threat to patient safety.
ASMOF Victoria secretary Kevin Shi said the agreement followed nearly 15 months of negotiations and included commitments on hours of work, doctor fatigue, and the recording and remuneration of previously unpaid overtime for Doctors in Training.
“We have also secured proper recording and remuneration for previously unpaid overtime for Doctors in Training so we can accurately assess the full extent of the resources required to support quality healthcare for our patients across our healthcare system,” Shi said.
Shi said doctors had been dissatisfied about wage erosion and the way the dispute had been handled, and that the interim agreement fell short of doctors’ expectations. He said members were committed to ongoing negotiations as soon as possible to resolve the impasse.
Campaign to continue into 2027
AMA Victoria president Dr Simon Judkins said the changes would help protect patient safety but would not fix what he described as systemic understaffing across the Victorian health system in the long term.
“To attract and retain the doctors we need to support quality clinical care, the Victorian Government must be able to provide a package of pay and conditions that effectively competes with other States and Territories,” Judkins said.
Judkins said the union would keep campaigning up to the Victorian State election and beyond, and was preparing the groundwork for an intensified and concerted campaign effort in 2027.
