The Albanese government has announced a 12 per-cent or an additional $1.7 billion in health funding and the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association has called on NSW Premier Chris Minns to put the state’s share towards a wage increase.

The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association NSWNMA has been actively campaigning for a pay rise for years, ramping up the campaign last year, demanding a 15 per-cent pay increase, plus superannuation, for all nurses and midwives from 1 July 2024.

In November 2024, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said the Minns Government couldn’t deliver the one year 15 per-cent pay rise the Association was calling for.

NSWNMA Acting General Secretary, Michael Whaites, said the Association welcomed the additional boost in funding and urged the Minns government to now invest new money into its nursing and midwifery workforce.

“The Minns Labor government has repeatedly acknowledged that the nursing and midwifery workforce needs a pay rise but has said they just can’t afford to meet the amount needed to fix the current wage disparity,” he said.

“With this additional funding, the Minns government can come back to negotiations and direct this money towards wages for nurses and midwives.

“Emergency departments, mental health and maternity services in NSW are in a crisis driven by inadequate wages, but the Minns government is refusing to admit it, unlike the Federal government who is acknowledging that the public health system is worth investing in.

“We can’t deliver the healthcare system the people of NSW deserve without a strong and robust nursing and midwifery workforce.

“Without competitive rates of pay for our nurses and midwives here in NSW, we will continue to see them leave for better pay and conditions across the border, leaving wards and units short staffed and services closing.

“We call on the Minns Labor government to follow the lead of its Federal Labor counterparts and put the additional health funding into retaining its essential health workforce which is on its knees.”
NSWNMA President, O’Bray Smith, said the state’s largest female-dominated workforce continued to be left behind by the NSW government’s wages policy.

“The gender pay gap continues to widen under this state Labor government because of low wages for our professions,” she said.

“The gender pay gap has increased to 7.2 per-cent in 2024, up from 6.2 per-cent in 2023, making it the highest in more than a decade and this government’s wages policy is the problem.

“Unlike the state Labor government, the federal Labor government is recognising and valuing its female-dominated workforces by supporting the historic pay rises for aged care workers and early childhood educators.

“Nurses and midwives’ wages in Queensland and Victoria are between 10 per-cent to 18 per-cent higher than in NSW, resulting in our state having some of the lowest paid nurses and midwives in the country, which the NSW government is refusing to address.  

“The Liberal government may have inflicted this damage, but it is up to Labor to fix it and pay nurses and midwives in NSW what they deserve.”