A midwife at a busy public hospital and a Extinction Rebellion activist claimed sick leave at taxpayers’ expense on the same day she was arrested for protesting. Redcliffe Hospital midwife Emma Dorge – who calls herself Emma Jade on social media – was arrested on October 9 for allegedly breaching her bail conditions, which banned her from entering Brisbane’s CBD. Hospital management is agonising over what to do about Dorge, 23, given that she tried to claim sick leave on the taxpayer when she was also involved in a protest, where she is accused of breaking the law. It is understood management found out she had not been that sick because on the day she live-streamed herself in a police watch-house after she was arrested. Posted on her Facebook page, Dorge said, “Resist. Do something. Do not uphold the state. Our lives, our ecosystems are at stake. “Every morning I wake up exhausted and terrified of the world we live in and how much worse it’s going to get. And if you’ve got the privilege and ability to have some sort of resistance, and you don’t then, I’m angry at you too. “You’re living on stolen land, in an illegal occupation of so-called Australia and you’re watching the sixth mass extinction unfold.” When asked what action had been taken against Dorge, a Redcliffe Hospital spokesman said: “Redcliffe Hospital’s maternity service has appropriate staffing arrangements in place that ensure clinical care is not compromised when individual staff are absent. “Metro North Hospital and Health Service demands high standards of personal integrity and professional conduct from all its staff. “Should any staff member fail to meet those standards, appropriate action can be taken through the relevant industrial process,” the spokesman said. “As this matter is currently before the courts, it would not be appropriate to make a comment about this matter at this time. For privacy and confidentiality reasons, we also do not comment on individual HR matters.” Ms Dorge questioned where the information had come from and which hospital was involved. She hung up after being asked if she took sick leave on October 9 to attend a protest.
