Queensland: disgruntled bureaucrats one day, angry nurses the next.
About 300 nurses and midwives, armed with high-pitched whistles and catchy slogans, descended on state parliament on Thursday to protest against plans to privatise Queensland's new hospitals.
Just two days earlier, about 1000 public servants met in the same spot to demonstrate against pay rises for politicians and their own pay offer.
The gatherings are the latest in a long line of organised union protests against job losses, privatisation plans and cuts to services since the Newman government came to power in March last year.
The Liberal National Party has already said, in TV ads, that no existing hospitals will be privatised.
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But it has already confirmed its plan to fully outsource the running of a new hospital on the Sunshine Coast and some services at other hospitals.
Queensland Nurses Union secretary Beth Mohle says the union won't allow outsourcing.
"This is something our members feel very strongly about," she told reporters.
"It's in our DNA to defend universal health care."
Ms Mohle handed over two petitions to opposition health spokeswoman Jo-Ann Miller at Parliament House on Thursday.
More than 6000 people signed petitions, which object to hospital privatisations and outsourcing on the Sunshine Coast.
Ms Mohle said the union feared a federal coalition government would back outsourcing.
The $1.8 billion Sunshine Coast University Hospital is due to open at Kawana in 2016.
