{"id":609743,"date":"2026-04-16T02:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/609743\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T02:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:22:15","slug":"nsw-nurses-midwives-awarded-major-pay-rise-after-decision-from-industrial-relations-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/609743\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW nurses, midwives awarded major pay rise after decision from Industrial Relations Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

NSW nurses and midwives have been awarded a major pay rise following a decision by the Industrial Relations Commission, which found their work had been significantly undervalued, likely because most are women.<\/p>\n

Registered nurses will receive a “one-off reset” of a 10 per cent pay rise in the first year, backdated to July 1, 2025, with a 3 per cent pay rise the following two years.<\/p>\n

Enrolled nurses will receive 12 per cent in the first year, and assistant nurses will receive a 22 per cent rise.<\/p>\n

It amounts to a 16 per cent pay rise for registered nurses and midwives, an 18 per cent rise for enrolled nurses, and 28 per cent for assistants in nursing over three years.<\/p>\n

But the pay rises are minus the 3 per cent rise already awarded in an agreement with the NSW government<\/a>, which will reduce the overall amount nurses will receive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

The Industrial Relations Commission found the work of nurses and midwives had been significantly undervalued likely because most are women. (ABC News: Timothy Ailwood)<\/p>\n

The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) took on the NSW government in the Industrial Relations Commission last year, asking for a 35 per cent pay rise to cover a rise in the cost of living.<\/p>\n

The union also argued nurses’ work had changed dramatically without pay to match, and that women’s work and care skills were undervalued.<\/p>\n

In delivering the decision, commission president Justice Ingmar Taylor said there was a “real possibility their work is undervalued for gender reasons”.<\/p>\n

But he said the commission also had to take into account the state of the NSW economy, and that every extra 1 per cent would cost the government $74.5 million a year.<\/p>\n

NSW has about 69,000 nurses and midwives, the commission heard.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of those, about 50,000, are registered nurses, who have been awarded the lowest pay rise.<\/p>\n

‘We hoped for a better outcome for them’\"Michael<\/p>\n

Michael Whaites says today’s pay rise, while welcome, did not address the structural pay issues that nurses face.\u00a0 (ABC News: Isobel Roe)<\/p>\n

NSWNMA general secretary Michael Whaites said the “historical outcome” came down to a “sustained campaign” from the state’s nurses and midwives.<\/p>\n

“I’m so proud of the work that our members have done,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“But there is more work to be done.”<\/p>\n

Mr Whaites said while the pay rise for assistant and enrolled nurses was welcomed, the outcome did not address the structural pay issues that registered nurses and midwives face.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Registered nurses and midwives remain behind those in other states,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They are the backbone of this workforce, they are the majority of this workforce, and we hoped for a better outcome for them.”<\/p>\n

Treasurer reacts to pay rise<\/p>\n

Mr Whaites said the state of the NSW economy had hampered his members’ case for a much more significant pay rise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Today we heard registered nurses should be paid more, but we just can’t afford it.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said his government would accept the commission’s ruling, but taxpayers would bear the cost of the increase.<\/p>\n

“Workers have a right to bargain. We as an employer obviously engage in good faith,” he told ABC Radio Sydney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I’m not going to tell a nurse or a midwife that at a time of high inflation, somehow they have to take one for the team.”\"Mr<\/p>\n

Mr Mookhey acknowledges some nurses are disappointed with the outcome. (ABC News: Isobel Roe)<\/p>\n

At a press conference shortly after, he said the increased pay for nurses and midwives would cost billions over the forward estimates, but would still be “manageable”.<\/p>\n

“We knew when we came to government that we would be investing more in the wages of essential workers,” Mr Mookhey said.<\/p>\n

“My own expectation is the additional cost will be in the billions of dollars.”<\/p>\n

He said the final cost would likely not be revealed for weeks while the government worked through the financial impact.<\/p>\n

He also acknowledged that nurses had expressed disappointment, admitting that “not everybody has got everything they want here”.<\/p>\n

Mr Mookhey said the government fought in opposition to allow workers groups to take pay decisions to an independent umpire, and the today’s decision by the Industrial Relations Commission was fair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NSW nurses and midwives have been awarded a major pay rise following a decision by the Industrial Relations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,296411,44,16862,296403,296404,296408,296405,296410,296402,296407,296409,296406],"class_list":["post-609743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-industrial-relations-commission","tag-news","tag-nsw-government","tag-nsw-nurses","tag-nsw-nurses-and-midwives-association","tag-nurses-and-midwives-pay-dispute","tag-nurses-industrial-action","tag-nurses-pay-rise","tag-nurses-wage-case","tag-nurses-wage-offer","tag-public-sector-pay","tag-wage-offer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}