Patients will die: Nurses up ante in dispute with Crisafulli government over failed pay promise
A powerful new ad campaign has warned Queenslander will die if the Crisafulli government fails pay the state’s nurses and midwives promised nation-leading pay and conditions.
Queensland’s nurses and midwives union has ramped up its campaign for better pay and conditions with a new ad campaign saying patients will die.
The Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union – which last week waged industrial action for the first time in two decades – warned that frontline health workers would flee the service to take higher-paying jobs interstate if the Crisafulli government did not improve its enterprise bargaining offer.
The confronting ad will begin to air across social media and television streaming sites, including YouTube and on-demand free-to-air TV, from Wednesday.
The 30-second video features Queensland nurse Tahlia, who says “Better pay saves lives”.
“Every day in Queensland, over 300 nurse and midwife shifts go unfilled,” she says. “Fewer nurses and midwives means more patients die – it’s that serious.
“But instead of the nation-leading wages and conditions they promised, the LNP government is offering less than other states. Queensland can’t afford to lose more of us, but we are all stretched to the limit.”
It comes as the Queensland Council of Unions calls for a boost to the state’s paid parental leave offer alongside pay discussions with the 260,000-strong public service.
In a new report released examining the state of Queensland’s public service, the QCU has called on the government to lift its current policy from 14 weeks of paid leave to a minimum of 18 weeks, with an additional eight weeks’ bonus for workers who have been with the service for five years or more.
QCU general-secretary Jacqueline King said the change would have a relatively minimal impact on the state’s budget while boosting morale and promoting tenure. “We need to be able to not just attract people but keep them in their jobs, and that means being able to provide an attractive salary package.
“It will cut costs of recruitment, it will cut costs of retraining people, and it means that we can focus on attracting more people to come and work in the public sector and fill the jobs currently vacant.”
Nurses and midwives were the first to enter enterprise bargaining negotiations with the Liberal National government, with the entirety of the public service requiring new deals by early 2026.
The government’s initial public service pay offer of a 3 per cent increase in 2025 and 2.5 per cent annually in 2026 and 2027 was rejected at the start of negotiations.
Members of the QNMU are currently taking industrial action, claiming the government failed to present them with an offer that represented nation-leading pay and conditions, which was promised during last year’s state election campaign.
The government offered them a four-month pay sweetener at the end of the 2027 agreement that would keep them the best paid in the country after Victoria’s nurses secured 7.1 per cent pay rises over the next three years.
This was rejected due to claims the offer containing worsened conditions.
QNMU acting secretary Grant Burton said the Victorian deal would mean Queensland Health would not be offering nation-leading for the first time in 15 years. “If this occurs, skilled nurses and midwives will leave and understaffing and wait times will worsen,” he said.
“We’re facing critical workforce shortages. Queensland’s nurses and midwives are burning out and walking away.”
Teachers, police and firefighters are in early stages of talks with departments prior to their agreement ending this month.
Ms King said the QCU was yet to sit down with Premier David Crisafulli or his deputy, Jarrod Bleijie, amid negotiations, which was “disappointing”.
In response to questions about improving paid parental leave, Mr Bleijie said the government would “continue to negotiate in good faith”.
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