More than 60,000 nurses and midwives across New South Wales are set to receive significant pay increases following a landmark industrial ruling, bringing to a close a long-running dispute that reflects deeper divides about how feminised work is valued in Australia.
The decision, handed down by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, will deliver pay rises of up to 28 per cent for some workers, with increases varying across roles and to be phased in over time. Assistants in nursing are set to receive the largest boost at 22 per cent, while enrolled nurses and registered nurses will also see substantial increases to their base pay with 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.
The outcome follows a years-long campaign led by the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, which argued that the profession had been historically underpaid relative to the complexity, responsibility and increasing demands of the job. That argument gained urgency in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which placed extraordinary pressure on a workforce stretched thin.
Central to the case was a “work value” claim, a legal argument that nursing and midwifery roles have evolved significantly over time, but wages have failed to keep pace. The Commission ultimately accepted that the nature of the work had changed and intensified, and that this had not been adequately reflected in pay.
The path to this decision has been protracted. In 2025, nurses accepted an interim pay increase of around 3 per cent while continuing to pursue a broader claim through the Commission, signalling that the dispute was far from resolved. The matter eventually escalated into a major industrial case, reflecting the scale of dissatisfaction across the workforce and the stakes involved for the state’s health system.
The decision also adds to a growing recognition that work traditionally performed by women has been systemically undervalued. It is likely to be closely watched by other sectors, including aged care and early childhood education, where similar arguments around pay equity exist.