Nurses furious after NSW Premier Chris Minns claims first year nurses earn $90k a year
Nurses are furious with NSW Premier Chris Minns’ claim first year salaries are $90,000 a year. Their calls for him to explain an $18,000 discrepancy have fallen on deaf ears.
NSW
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Public health workers want NSW Premier Chris Minns to be held “accountable” for what they say is his “deliberate effort” to mislead the public after he said first year nurses wages were $90,000 a year.
On three separate occasions this week the premier claimed first year nurses earned $90,000 a year when discussing his government’s pay dispute with public health psychiatrists. He said the psychiatrist’s demand for a 25 per cent increase equated a first year nurse’s wage.
The award reveals first year nurses earn about $72,000 a year.
The discrepancy saw Mr Minns criticised by nurses who contacted The Daily Telegraph directly to share their displeasure with his comments.
NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) union member Rebecca Price said it was a “kick in the guts” to hear the premier quote the figure.
“I believe it was a deliberate effort to discredit our cause,” Ms Price said.
“He needs to say where he got (that) figure from.”
Ms Price believes the premier’s comments were a “tactic” to court public opinion and that they had already “rubbed off on people”, given personal “unpleasant” experiences nurses had shared online in regards to their pay.
NSWNMA General Secretary Shaye Candish shared a similar sentiment, saying Mr Minns’ figures were “far from the truth”.
“I can’t explain why the premier insists on saying this,” Ms Candish said.
“We’ve seen a number of occasions … the government put out information that is deliberately misleading.”
Another union member, Ben Stokes, said it was “disingenuous for the premier to spread misinformation”.
“The other point that pisses me off is that he’s using the fight with nurses as if he’s trying to support us while having a fight with the psychiatrists,” Mr Stokes said.
The premier has refused to answer questions put to him by The Daily Telegraph about where he received the $90,000 figure from and whether he stood by it.
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Originally published as Nurses furious after NSW Premier Chris Minns claims first year nurses earn $90k a year
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