Nurse pay deal retains nation-leading status, says Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls

Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls has insisted the pay rise sweetener offered to nurses on Friday would keep them the best-paid in the country as negotiations with the powerful nurses union heat up.

Queensland Health and Ambulance Services Tim Nicholls in Brisbane. Picture: John Gass

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Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls has insisted the pay rise sweetener offered to nurses on Friday would keep them the best-paid in the country as negotiations with the powerful nurses union heat up.

The state government proposed nurses receive a 3 per cent increase in the final four months of the new agreement on top of the public service’s base offer, which Mr Nicholls said would keep them the best-paid health workforce in the country.

Under the base offer put to the unions as the government began negotiations with much of the public service, Queensland nurses’ pay would lead the nation for two years and eight months of the three-year agreement, before being overtaken by their Victorian counterparts, who last month accepted an annual increase of 7.1 per cent over four years.

“It’s very difficult to compare Queensland directly with Victoria … it’s not a direct comparison, but to the best extent possible for the vast majority of people, our offer, which includes the government election commitment to the last four months, will maintain nation-leading wages and important conditions for nurses and midwives,” Mr Nicholls said

The affirmation comes after the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union publicly rejected the offer it received last week. The Health Minister said he would not comment on parity with Victoria until the government received a formal request from the union.

Union secretary Sarah Beaman said the offer would be taken to members from this week.

“For the majority of Queensland Health nurses and midwives, this offer is not nation-leading,” she said. “We also hold significant concerns that the Queensland Health offer includes many reductions in existing conditions that would currently see hundreds of members’ pay go backwards over the life of the agreement.”

Mr Nicholls ruled out using changes to patient-nurse ratios as leverage in negotiations after the government included a clause in the most recent offer that threatened to withhold backplay if union members took strike action.

The Queensland government is in the midst of pay negotiations with the public sector, which has broadly rejected the opening offer of a 3 per cent wage increase in 2025, followed by 2.5 per cent annually over the following two years.

The police union recently entered a two-week pause in negotiations after submitting its latest list of claims. Meanwhile, Queensland Teachers Union president Cresta Richardson said she would “not compromise” on getting teachers pay increases that “respect their vital work”.