More than 60,000 nurses and midwives in NSW have secured major pay rises of up to 28 per cent after the state’s industrial court formally recognised their work had been historically undervalued, in a landmark decision handed down today.
The NSW Industrial Relations Commission delivered its long‑awaited verdict on Thursday, after the Minns Labor Government and the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) failed to reach a wage deal last year and the dispute was sent to arbitration.
Commission president Justice Ingmar Taylor said there was a “real possibility their work is undervalued for gender reasons”, noting that nurses and midwives are overwhelmingly women and had been affected by years of wage caps and surging post‑pandemic inflation.
Under the ruling, registered nurses and midwives will receive a “one‑off reset” totalling a 16 per cent increase over three years, including a 10 per cent rise in the first year backdated to 1 July 2025, followed by three per cent increases in 2026 and 2027.
Enrolled nurses will see an 18 per cent pay rise over the life of the agreement, starting with a 12 per cent jump in the first year, while assistants in nursing will receive the biggest boost, with a 22 per cent first‑year increase and 28 per cent over three years. The package folds in the 3 per cent interim rise that was granted to about 69,000 public‑sector nurses and midwives last year while the case was before the court.
Nurses and midwives had originally pushed for a 35 per cent pay rise over three years, arguing that their roles had expanded dramatically without an increase in pay, that cost‑of‑living pressures were biting, and that “women’s work” and caring skills had been systematically undervalued.
During the six‑week hearing, the union’s barrister Leo Saunders told the court, “Nurses are expensive now, they’ll be made more expensive, [but] this does not represent an economic disaster,” while pointing out that nine in 10 nurses and 98.9 per cent of midwives in NSW are women.
Economists and government officials clashed over the broader impact of the claim, with NSW Treasury deputy secretary Liz Livingstone warning the union’s original proposal would cost $14.7 billion over five years and could blow out to $16.3 billion with interest, threatening the state’s return to surplus and its credit rating.
Justice Taylor acknowledged evidence that any significant increase would be debt‑funded and could put upward pressure on inflation and interest rates, but said that should not prevent a fair and appropriate rise for such a large workforce.
Health Minister Ryan Park has confirmed the Minns Government will uphold the court’s decision, after a bruising two‑year fight that included three statewide strikes in 2024 which saw thousands of nurses and midwives march through Sydney’s CBD and left parts of the public health system effectively at a standstill.
Today, dozens of nurses packed into the NSW industrial court to hear the outcome of the case that could reshape pay across the state’s public hospitals for years to come.
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