‘Opportune’ Queensland ads lure resigning NSW psychiatrists interstate

Queensland could bolster its mental health workforce with NSW staff in locations including Cairns, the Sunshine Coast, Whitsundays and Gold Coast, the state’s health minister says. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

Queensland officials have defended a provocative job-ad blitz to lure New South Wales public-sector psychiatrists across the border as mass resignations trigger a crisis in Australia’s largest health system.

Half-page advertisements published in major Sydney newspapers on Friday targeted psychiatrists, saying that “Queensland is calling” and that the state “already pays more” than NSW.