Fair Work case seeking 35% pay boost for primary care nurses begins
Hearings in a long-anticipated case that could lift primary care nurses’ minimum award wages by up to 35% kicked off in Melbourne this week.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has asked the Fair Work Commission to raise the minimum rates under the Nurses Award 2020, which covers nurses in general practice and other primary care settings.
The award currently means the minimum pay for a registered nurse in general practice ranges from $30.64 per hour for an entry-level Level 1 RN — generally an RN practising with support and guidance from a more experienced nurse — to $51.21 per hour for Level 3 RNs, who perform more advanced clinical, specialist or education roles.
The union argues that nursing is a historically undervalued profession, in part because it is female-dominated. But it says rates need to rise because the nature of the work has fundamentally changed, leaving the current award rooted in an outdated nursing model.
