The Saturday Paper, Post, daily news email, 4 May 2023:
A centrepiece of next week’s budget will be a $11.3bn commitment to raise aged care workers pay by 15%.
What we know:
During the election, Labor promised to provide a wage increase to aged care workers, and the Fair Work Commission last year decided this should be 15% (SMH).
After attempting to stagger this increase over two years, Aged Care Minister Anika Wells has confirmed it will be implemented in full from July at a cost of $11.3bn over four years.
Wells described the pay boost as “historic” and said it would help to address gender pay inequality.
For a registered nurse the increase will equate to almost $200 a week more, with their annual wage growing to more than $78,000.
Personal care staff will receive an extra $7300 a year, or $141 a week.
The federal government also hopes the pay increase will attract workers to the sector and help to meet its election promise of having nurses in aged care homes 24-7.
Recent reports found that this policy could lead to a shortfall of about 25,000 workers in the next two years.
Aged care is now the government’s fifth biggest expense with costs jumping by $5bn to $26.9bn this financial year (The Conversation).
The sector has drawn much criticism, with staff overworked, underpaid and poorly equipped (The Saturday Paper).
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