Two years ago outback nurse Gayle Woodford was abducted and murdered in the APY Lands in South Australia’s north.
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Gayle’s sister, Andrea Hannemann, and the rest of her family are still fighting for safer working conditions for remote and regional nurses and health workers.
Mrs Hannemann said it was important to her family that all nurses and health workers had a safe place to work.
“It must never happen again; we never want another family to go through the pain and trauma we have,” she said.
Gayle’s Law, abolishing single nurse postings in remote and rural areas, passed the South Australian parliament in November 2017, but it only covers the state-funded Oodnadatta and Leigh Creek areas, not the APY Lands.
“The family want Gayle’s Law to be recognised by every state government and federally across Australia,” Mrs Hannemann said.
“Every workplace across Australia should be safe.
“It is the responsibility of our government to ensure laws are in place to guarantee workers’ safety.
“Gayle’s Law will ensure higher levels of safety for health workers across Australia.”
"The family want Gayle’s Law to be recognised by every state government and federally across Australia."
- Andrea Hannemann, Gayle Woodford's sister
Mrs Woodford’s family is asking for everyone concerned with the conditions in these remote and rural areas to contact their local federal member to more pressure on the federal government to pass the law.
Mrs Hannemann said Nganampa Health Council in the APY Lands had made changes to the protocols and procedures for nurses, despite Worksafe SA initially finding Mrs Woodford’s death was not work related.
“Worksafe SA made its decision from a round table in an office in a city without visiting Gayle’s workplace to do an investigation,” she said.
“The decision was an insult to Gayle and her work ethic and left the family in further anguish.”
Worksafe SA apologised to Mrs Woodford’s family for its decision on the eve of the second anniversary of her death and acknowledged her death was in fact a workplace incident. It has reopened the investigation into her death.
“The family welcome the apology and look forward to a thorough investigation into Gayle’s workplace and all other similar workplaces across Australia.”
