NZ doctors told to avoid Qld hospitals FORGET the old tourism slogan "where else but Queensland," it is now "anywhere else but Queensland." That's what Kiwi doctors hoping to practice in Australia are being told by a New Zealand medical group. The New Zealand Association of Salaried Medical Specialists is warning its members not to seek work in Queensland public hospitals because of "a draconian employment law" that would leave them with fewer rights and less protection. Australian Medical Association (AMA) president Dr Steve Hambleton said the system would be under pressure if international doctors shunned work at Queensland public hospitals. "The potential workforce problems are now compounded because Queensland has often recruited hospital specialists from New Zealand and other countries," Dr Hambleton said in a statement. As word continues to spread internationally, these contracts will cause this important workforce supply source to dry up. Queensland Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said something had to be done to control overtime, with one doctor clocking up $600,000 in extra payments. A spokesman for Mr Springborg said an auditor-general's report into Queensland Health had revealed doctors were receiving payments for no work at all under the former Labor government. "People in New Zealand wouldn't be aware of the terrible mess Queensland Health was in when we inherited it," Mr Springborg said. The government wasn't doing anything to doctors' pay that should affect their willingness to work in Queensland, the spokesman said. Legislation, introduced to parliament last month, will enable doctors on salaries of more than $130,000 to be put on individual contracts. It comes after the auditor-general found earlier this year that 1200 senior doctors were each paid an average of $100,000 for work on private patients they didn't do. Under the scheme, introduced by Labor, the allowance was paid for treating private patients in the public hospital system in return for any revenue generated to be given back to their hospital and health service.