My parents are both paramedics (have been in the service for 35 years each) and both have explained its due to cuts. They removed the anti reflective strips from their uniforms a few years ago (which protects them in the night from cars when working on crashes) when the uniform reaction happened {story here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-06/itchy-amublance-uniforms-widespread-in-sa/6448610 }

They are sending the bulk majority of students and graduates interstate or overseas and ones that stay in the state are generally hired as SAAS Volunteers. They have been pushing for years for new crew yet they are under pressure from the service to quit for new, younger workers to be pushed into the service. The agreement the government is trying to push through to the union is literal bs and will not help them at all. My mother continuously comes home crying, telling me that she has worked 4-6 days in a row, 14+ hour shifts with no breaks (this has been a thing for at least 5 years now). As people are stating, this is not just an issue with SAAS but also with SA Health as a whole. The government is also trying to make cuts to the Fire Fighters and are trying to get them to be vollies too.