Stalled pay negotiations between nurses and Queensland government referred to independent mediator

Enterprise bargaining negotiations between Queensland’s nurses and the state government have been referred to an independent mediator after months of discussions failed to end in a deal.

Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union secretary Sarah Beaman and Cairns nurse Suri Hobday. Picture: Tim Little

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Prolonged enterprise bargaining negotiations between Queensland’s nurses and the state government have been referred to an independent mediator after months of discussions have failed to end in a deal.

Queensland Health has referred the stalled wage negoti­ations with the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, which state Health Minister Tim Nicholls said he hoped would speed up conciliation.

It comes as the QNMU accused the state government of “gaslighting” frontline health workers in the middle of enterprise bargaining negotiations.

The union threatened to escalate protected industrial action from next Monday if the government failed to make an offer that represented “nation-leading pay and conditions”, a promise it took to last year’s state election.

Nurses and midwives are seeking a 13 per cent pay rise over three years; the government has offered an 11 per cent increase over the same period.

QNMU secretary Sarah Beaman on Monday said frontline nurses and midwives “have had enough of the government’s poor offers … and attempt to erode their pay and conditions”.

“Members have formally put Health Minister Tim Nicholls on notice,” she said.

She said the union had conducted “negotiations in good faith … Despite two poor ­offers from the government, over the past two weeks, the QNMU has again engaged in intensive, good-faith negotiations in what was yet another attempt to secure an agreement that recruits, retains and respects frontline public nurses and midwives.”

Health Minister Tim Nicholls. Picture: John Gass

Talks between broke down on Thursday last week. Ms Beaman then accused the government of pulling “the rug out from under us” on the final day of talks.

Earlier, the union told the government frontline health workers would flee the service to take higher-paying jobs interstate if it did not improve its offer.

Nurses and midwives were the first to enter enterprise bargaining negotiations with the Liberal National Party 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.

The QNMU launched industrial action in June for the first time in two decades after negotiations stalled over the government’s commitment to “nation-leading pay and conditions”.

The government previously offered a four-month pay sweetener at the end of the 2027 agreement that would keep them the best paid in the country but this was rejected because of claims it contained worsened conditions.