Direct aged care workers receive pay rise of up to 28.5%
Paul Karp
Aged care workers will receive a pay rise of up to 28.5%, after the Fair Work Commission delivered the final ruling in a long-running work value case.
The commission’s expert panel said those involved in direct care including nurses, aged care, home care workers deserved pay rises “substantially” higher than the interim 15% pay rise ordered in November 2022.
It adopted a new benchmark pay rate of $1,223.90 a week – or $63,6642.8 a year – for certificate III qualified employees.
The decision will trigger billions of greater investment in aged care, on top of the $11.3bn allocated over four years in the 2023 budget for a 15% pay increase.
Key events
Eden Gillespie
Queensland prisoner charged with murder of another inmate
A Queensland prisoner has been charged with the murder of another man in custody at a prison north of Brisbane.
A 42-year-old man was located unresponsive with serious injuries inside his cell at around 7pm on 2 February at Woodford Correctional Centre.
Queensland police identified the death as suspicious and have now charged a 34-year-old prisoner from the centre with one count of murder.
The 34-year-old is expected to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on 16 March.
NSW rejects council demerger proposal
The New South Wales government has knocked back a demerger proposal by the Inner West Council after 60% of residents voted in favour of a split into smaller local government areas.
Ron Hoenig, the NSW minister for local government, said he had accepted a recommendation by the Boundaries Commission that the demerger of the Inner West Council should not proceed.
It comes after the Minns government introduced legislation last month to create a legal pathway to demergers for councils that wish to split – however it has made it clear it won’t be footing the bill.
Hoenig said:
There is compelling evidence that the business case presented by Council will cost the community more money than it saves.
I have been clear and on the record that I will not allow councils to demerge if they cannot prove they will be financially viable.
Consigning three new councils to budget deficits each year until at least 2028 would not be in the best interests of the Inner West community.
I understand sections of the community may be disappointed but this decision delivers certainty for the people of the Inner West.
Mayor of the Inner West council, Darcy Byrne, said the council accepted the commissions recommendations:
We wanted a fair and independent assessment and that has taken place.
We accept the Boundaries Commission’s recommendation that the Inner West Council should not be abolished and recognise that the huge cost of demerger would have had serious impacts on services our people depend on.
Australian Alps face world’s largest loss of snow by end of century, research shows
Global heating will cause snow cover in the Australian Alps to decline by 78% by the end of the century – much faster than the declines assessed in six other major skiing regions, new research has found.
The study published today by researchers from Germany’s University of Bayreuth cautioned about the quickening consequences of the climate crisis, predicting 13% of ski areas across the globe may lose all natural snow cover in a future with high emissions.
More on this story from Rafqa Touma here:
World’s heaviest blueberry recorded in northern NSW
Some joy for your Friday arvo – a blueberry grown in NSW has broken the Guinness world record as the world’s heaviest.
Roughly the size of a golf ball, the big berry weighs 20.4 grams and was grown using traditional manual techniques.
Sharlotte Thou has the story here:
Aged care pay rise ‘a very good first step’ to attracting more workers, HSU president says
The Health Services Union president, Gerard Hayes, spoke on ABC Afternoon Briefing a little earlier about the Fair Work Commission’s landmark decision to provide direct aged care workers a pay rise of up to 28.5%.
Hayes said the move was a “very good first step” and could see the sector attract workers from other industries.
He also warned the sector against relying too much on the Pacific for aged care workers, saying “we cannot get to a point where we are bleeding other countries to be able to facilitate our needs”:
We need to be able to facilitate our own needs in respect of other countries. This will go a long way to bring people into the system.
Unicef welcomes additional UNRWA funding
Unicef Australia has welcomed the additional $4m the government has committed to provide aid in Gaza on top of the $6m the government reinstated today to UNRWA.
“The urgent need for humanitarian aid is paramount and I thank Senator Wong for her life-saving announcement today,” the chief executive of Unicef Australia, Tony Stuart, said.
Unicef said it had moved 25 truckloads into the Gaza Strip in the first week of March.
Earlier, Save the Children Australia’s chief executive, Mat Tinkler, said it is only possible to deliver the amount of aid required in Gaza via land, adding that the delivery of aid via airdrops is “fundamentally a very difficult and problematic way of delivering aid”.
He said:
The amount of need we need to get through is huge. It’s possible to do that through land crossings by trucks – they are just not being allowed through by the government of Israel at the moment, and there is no safe ability for our humanitarian support on the ground to distribute that effectively. So we need a ceasefire urgently, we need safe passage for humanitarian aid to get across the border. It needs to be a land crossing if we are to have any hope of getting close to meeting the needs of humans in that place right now.
Suspension of UNRWA funding ‘heavy-handed’ and ‘knee-jerk’, Save the Children chief says
The suspension of the funding to UNRWA to provide aid to Gaza was “a bit heavy-handed” and a “knee-jerk reaction”, says Save the Children Australia’s chief executive, Mat Tinkler.
Speaking on ABC Afternoon Briefing now, Tinkler said:
UNRWA is essentially like the government service delivery in Gaza.
We believe the suspension was a bit heavy-handed. If you liken UNRWA to an essential service delivery organisation in Australia, if there was an allegation made about staff and wrongdoing in a major hospital, we would not stop the operations of that hospital, would not suspend its entire funding.
I think it was knee-jerk and other steps could have been taken that dealt with those allegations in an appropriately serious way that fully investigated them and drew the matter to a conclusion but that did not additionally put lives at risk.
This is as bad as it gets in a humanitarian sense right now, so anything like this decision to suspend funding from the core service delivery agency in that setting will have a dramatic impact on children and families and their needs and I think a part of that impact could have been avoided.
Albanese government welcomes Fair Work decision, commits to funding aged care pay increase
The Albanese government has said it is committed to provide funding to support the Fair Work Commission’s decision to give direct care workers an average pay increase of 23%.
In a joint statement, the minister for workplace relations, Tony Burke, the minister for health, Mark Butler, and the minister for aged care, Anika Wells, said:
The Albanese Labor Government welcomes the Fair Work Commission’s decision on the aged care work value case.
We are closely examining the content of this decision, which is lengthy and highly detailed.
We have committed to provide funding to support increases to award wages made by the Fair Work Commission in this matter and that will help deliver a higher standard of care for older Australians.
Aged care work is highly skilled and provides incredible rewards for workers who make life-changing contributions to older Australians. But aged care work has been historically undervalued.
We promised to fight for a pay rise for Australia’s aged care workers and we did. Early in our term we made a submission to the Commission that unequivocally supported a wage increase.
Victorian treasurer calls NSW premier ‘mathematically challenged’ over GST comments
If you missed the unfolding quarrel we covered earlier between the Victorian treasurer, Tim Pallas, and the NSW premier, Chris Minns, over the latest carve-up of GST revenue, my colleague Benita Kolovos has the rundown here:
Measles warning issued for western Sydney
NSW Health has issued a measles warning for western Sydney after an infant – who was too young to be vaccinated – returned from south-east Asia and contracted measles.
Dr Catherine Bateman, director of the public health unit at Western Sydney Local Health District, said there is no ongoing risk to the public, but warned people who attended the below locations to remain vigilant to symptoms:
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Flight VJ085 from Ho Chi Minh City, arriving Sydney international airport on 2 March at approximately 8am
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Sydney international airport on 2 March from approximately 8am to 10am
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Rhodes Waterside on:
2 March between 11.00am and 12.45pm
8 March between 12.30pm and 1.10pm -
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead emergency department on:
5 March between 10.30pm and 6 March 12.30am
6 March between 2.30am and 2.15pm -
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead between 8 and 13 March.
Symptoms can take up to 18 days to appear, and include fever, sore eyes, runny nose and a cough, followed three or four days later by a red, blotchy rash that spreads from the head to the rest of the body.
Infants from 6 months of age can have the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine if travelling overseas.
Only UNRWA able to provide amount of aid required in Gaza, independent MP Zoe Daniel says
The independent member for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel – who supported the government’s decision to suspend UNWRA funding – has said she backs the decision to restore the funding, following assurances safeguards had been put in place by the aid agency.
The fact is that only UNRWA has the infrastructure and personnel to provide and distribute humanitarian assistance to Gaza’s civilian population at anything like the necessary scale.
The fact is that no other aid agency is capable of gearing up to provide humanitarian assistance at scale and with the urgency required.
The fact is that much of Gaza’s civilian population is suffering from malnutrition and there is serious risk of famine affecting millions of people if humanitarian assistance is not restored at levels only UNRWA can deliver.
I again encourage the Israeli government to do all it can to allow expedited access for humanitarian aid to Gaza’s civilian population, in line with the international rules of war.
Daniel said that she will keep pushing for the release of the remaining hostages that have been held by Hamas since 7 October and gaining a humanitarian ceasefire.
She added:
My focus continues to be on the mental health, safety, and wellbeing of those in my community who have experienced severe anxiety, fear, and antisemitism since October 7.
Humanitarian peak body calls for Australia to ensure Gaza aid can be delivered safely
Australia’s peak body for humanitarian and development organisations has welcomed the governments decision to reinstate $6m of UNWRA funding for aid in Gaza, but said it must also redouble efforts to ensure aid convoys can enter Gaza safely via land.
The Australian Council for International Development chief executive, Marc Purcell, said:
Children are already dying of starvation on the world’s watch. Parachuting aid is not a solution. Five civilians have already died in trying to reach air drops in Gaza, and the aid is only reached by those who are fit and able to do so. Women, children, elderly and people with disability are left behind, those who are sick, injured and starving will not receive this relief.
It is essential that the Australian Government redoubles its efforts to ensure aid convoys can enter Gaza safely via land. We call on the Australian Government to urge that aid convoys and humanitarian workers are not targeted further by the Israeli defence forces as they seek to assist civilians.
Paul Karp
Exclusion of indirect care workers from aged care pay rise ‘a lost opportunity’, Centre for Future Work director says
Dr Fiona McDonald, policy director at the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, has commented on the aged care pay rise.
McDonald said:
Today’s decision is crucial to supporting safe and quality care for elderly Australians, and the sustainability of the aged care workforce. For too long, aged care work has been undervalued and low paid. The Fair Work Commission’s decision to award additional pay rises, on top of an interim 15% wage rise, is vital to fixing this.
The introduction of a new classification structure will also provide the basis for the ongoing recognition and valuation of aged care work.
It’s essential the federal government commits to fully funding the additional increases of up to 13.5% from the start of the next financial year.
The exclusion of indirect care workers from today’s decision is a lost opportunity to support the lowest paid workers.
