August 14, 2026

Professional Issues

2026 AVCAT scholarship opens 18 August – prepare your application now

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The Australian Veteran’s Children Assistance Trust (AVCAT) has launched their 2026 Application Round for their highly coveted scholarships! 

AVCAT’s scholarships are awarded annually to the children and grandchildren of ex-serving veterans, who are planning to undertake full-time tertiary education in 2027. Scholarships include Long Tan Bursaries and Sponsored Scholarships, valued between $4000 to $6000 per year, for up to three years. 

If you are considering a career in nursing or midwifery, we encourage you to explore the eligibility requirements and consider applying. 

The selection process is highly competitive with a limited number of scholarships awarded per year. The scholarships will be awarded based on financial need, academic potential, and deservedness. 

What is the Eligibility Criteria? 

Below are some common eligibility criteria for the Long Tan Bursaries and Sponsored Scholarships. You can view the full list of requirements on the official website.  

  • Be an Australian residency or citizenship 
  • Be a child or grandchild of an Australian ex-serving veteran. 
  • Planning to enrol or enrolled in a course of tertiary study in 2027 (recognised under the Australian Qualifications Framework 
  • For some scholarships, applicants must be receiving, or eligible to receive, a means-tested Commonwealth education benefit such as Youth Allowance, ABSTUDY or the Veterans’ Children Education Scheme (VCES). 

For the full eligibility details, visit AVCAT’s website here. 

Key Dates and Deadlines 

Applications officially open on 18 August, 2026, on Vietnam’s Veteran Day, and will officially close at midnight AEDT on 31 October 2026. 

Applicants will receive notification of their outcome from late February through to early March in 2027. 

For more information, visit the website here: https://avcat.org.au/scholarships/ 

11 interview tips every New Grad should know

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Are you ready for your New Grad Interview? Whether you’re interviewing for the public system, the private sector, primary care or aged care, here are our team’s top tips. 

1. Arrive with plenty of time before your interview
Punctuality is key for any job interview – including nursing and midwifery. Being on time shows your future employer that you’re reliable and know how to manage your time. Make a plan for how you will get there and allow extra time in case of traffic or transport delays.

Familiarise yourself with the venue – ideally with an extra visit to the site in the days preceding your interview. Know where to park, how to get to the interview room, and who to ask for at reception.If you do run into any problems on the way to the interview, make sure you call ahead of time.

2. Be polite to everyone
In environments like health facilities, word can travel quickly if you’re rude or snarky. Make sure you remain polite to all members of staff and other candidates – it could affect the way the panel see you.

3. Make eye contact with every member of the panel
Treat every member of the interview panel with respect and courtesy. Make sure to introduce yourself to each of them and to make eye contact. First impressions count, particularly during interviews.

4. It’s OK to be nervous – but don’t over-apologise for it
Everyone gets nervous during job interviews – it’s a natural reaction when being in stressful situations. Interviewers are usually more interested in your potential, preparation, and attitude than a perfectly polished performance. Practice deep breathing, slow down, and drink some water to help calm your nerves. If you must, feel free to explain you are nervous, but never overdo it.

5. Listen carefully
In interviews, listening can be as important as speaking. Practice active listening and ensure you get all parts of the interviewer’s questions. If you feel that you didn’t fully understand a question, don’t be afraid to ask for the question to be repeated or clarified.

6. Be professional in how you talk
New Grad interviews are formal and professional interviews, and you should treat them as such. Use language that a Midwife or Registered Nurse would use. Avoid slang or swearing, and don’t make derogatory comments about previous workplaces. Be careful with your use of humour.

7. Be aware of your mannerisms
Your reaction to nerves can affect the way you perform in an interview – from speeding up your speech, forgetting your points, and even tapping and scratching. Be aware of these mannerisms and be prepared to address them. Some tips may be to practice deep breathing, being aware of the speed of your speech, and drinking some water or asking for clarification to slow down the pace of conversation.

8. Don’t talk to much – communicate clearly and succinctly
The key to being a health professional is our ability to communicate with patients and colleagues in a clear and succinct way. When addressing the panel’s questions, pause to think about what the question entails, and address each point one by one. Don’t ramble or delve too deeply into unrelated anecdotes – these show an inability to manage time effectively and to communicate in an appropriate way.

9. Know your corporate values
There will almost certainly be a question regarding your potential employers’ corporate values in your interview. For those interviewing for the NSW Health GradStart Program, this would be the CORE values – Collaboration, Openness, Respect and Empowerment. Know these values off by heart and be prepared to answer questions about them and how you would employ them in your practice.

10. Practice your responses
Practice makes perfect – and that’s especially true for interviewing. Collate a list of potential questions (here are some we prepared ), and practice your answers to them. Ask family members or friends to role play an interview scenario and to assist you with formulating your responses. Consider using the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, and Result) in answers.

11. Leave a good impression
Make sure you leave the panel with a good impression of you, both personally and professionally. Say goodbye to each member of the panel, thank the panel and shake their hands if it seems appropriate. Have some questions prepared to ask the panel. Offer to take away a used cup of water and make sure you take away any rubbish with you. These small steps help leave an impression. 

If you need any more support, NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association members can contact us here . If you’re not yet a member, you can learn about the benefits of being a member and sign up here. 

Health needs jobs that work for people

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Researchers behind the Choice, Voice and Control report talk to The Lamp about their findings.

From your research, what snapshot of the wellbeing of our nursing and midwifery workforce did you get?

Prof Rae Cooper AO: This is a workforce under significant pressure and exhibiting multiple signs of difficulty, disenchantment and distress. NSW’s public sector nurses and midwives are stressed, depleted, frequently at risk of quitting or burning out, and feeling underappreciated and unseen. Worryingly, two out of every three regularly think about leaving the profession.

 

What do you see as the barriers to more family-friendly workplaces for nurses and midwives?

A/Prof Josh Healy: Our research highlights “good flex” – essentially, flexibility that benefits workers as well as employers – as a cornerstone of workforce sustainability in nursing and midwifery. At present, however, nurses and midwives in the NSW public sector get much less of this “good flex” than they want. And the types of flex that they want, but cannot currently access, are often uncomplicated. At least half of them would like more opportunities and choice to swap shifts, change their work start or finish times, and take paid time off for appointments.

Yet, while these “good flex” varieties are easy to name, they are harder to implement in practice for many NSW public hospitals. Our report identifies four main barriers that prevent good flex from being more widely available: local work context; a lack of consistent managerial support for flexibility; the complex nature of rostering itself; and chronic understaffing.

Experiences of flexibility differ markedly. Even where the work setting is conducive to flexibility, this is not necessarily facilitated by managers. Some of our research participants spoke of managers who impede workers’ attempts to achieve good flex. Even for well-intentioned managers, rostering is a difficult task. It too is an essential, but underappreciated, skill; and it too requires flexibility. Finally, these challenges are compounded by the pervasive realities of understaffing and stretched budgets in the public system.

 

What are the factors that facilitate a more sustainable workplace for nurses and midwives?

Prof Rae Cooper AO: A sustainable workplace provides what we describe as “good flex”: predictability, support and genuine choice. This is different from “bad flex”, where flexibility primarily meets the employer’s needs and workers are expected to absorb unpredictable hours or changes to their working time. Flexibility is only good when it works for both workers and employers.

Nurses and midwives need flexibility and better control over rosters and shifts, more manageable workloads, work that lets them have a life, and increased support from senior managers for job design that works for people. Employers can support this by establishing and expanding flexibility initiatives in partnership with staff, recognising and resourcing rostering as a specialist skill, and building support for good flex across teams, managers and senior leadership.

 

What are the consequences for our public health system if there is no structural change in the way nurses and midwives work is organised?

A/Prof Josh Healy: Changes in work organisation and job design are imperative to ensure that our public health system can continue to meet the growing health needs of the people of NSW.

The system’s sustainability is at risk, at a time of rising service demand. Without changes in work design and organisation that enable more sustainable workforce management, the problems revealed in our report will persist or get worse. Our public hospitals will continue to struggle to hold onto their nursing and midwifery staff – including the most experienced of these staff, who are essential to quality care.

 

How central is improved staffing to solving the problem?

Prof Rae Cooper AO: Improved staffing is central, but it cannot be separated from how the work is designed. More staff would help to manage workload pressures, prevent burnout and create the conditions in which access to flexibility expands. But understaffing can’t be effectively resolved while the jobs themselves continue to drive skilled nurses and midwives away.

 

What are the benefits for employers and health organisations from improved flexibility and control for nurses and midwives in their jobs?

A/Prof Josh Healy: Work design is critical to organisational success and workforce sustainability. Good flex benefits both workers and health organisations. Nurses and midwives experience better wellbeing and job satisfaction, along with reduced fatigue and less risk of burnout. Employers benefit from being better able to attract and retain skilled staff, which eases understaffing issues, and helps to build sustainable institutional knowledge and capability.

The benefits flow through to efficiencies and productivity gains via lower staff turnover and replacement costs and higher staff engagement.

 

What weight would you give to the gendered undervaluation of nurses and midwives’ skills and labour to the existing problems in the system?

Prof Rae Cooper AO: It deserves significant weight. Nursing and midwifery are predominantly female, frontline workforces, and their work and skills are often undervalued. This is reflected in understaffing, workload pressures and limited attention to job design that accounts for workers’ lives and caring responsibilities outside work.

The recent wage increase from the NSW Industrial Relations Commission helps to rectify the historical undervaluation, but it doesn’t address all the issues that affect job quality for nurses and midwives. The public health system cannot continue to rely on the commitment of its staff, while expecting them to sacrifice their own wellbeing. Designing jobs that work for a predominantly female workforce is essential if we want to attract and retain skilled staff. We must ensure that the people who save our lives are not sacrificing their own lives to do it.

Flexibility, support, choice: Landmark report released at 81st Annual Conference 

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A groundbreaking report launched at the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) 81st Annual Conference has revealed a lack of choice, control and flexibility is contributing to the staffing shortages and retention issues in the public health system.

The landmark Choice, Voice, and Control report, written by Professor Rae Cooper AO and her team from the Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion @ Work at the University of Sydney Business School, examined the critical needs of more than 2,000 public sector nurses and midwives across the state.

The report found 66% of nurses and midwives often consider leaving the professions, 82% agreed they had too much work to do, 56% said they often had to stay at work after their shift ended, 54% didn’t believe they had an adequate work-life balance, and 88% believed they were paid a low wage for the work they do.

NSWNMA General Secretary, Michael Whaites, said the findings should serve as an urgent blueprint for the state government.

“This report lays bare the realities that are driving our public sector workforce to breaking point. For years, nurses and midwives have been telling us they are exhausted and this is clear, irrefutable data showing exactly why: the current way healthcare work is designed is unsustainable,” said Mr Whaites.

“We know the current workplace design has a domino effect, with understaffing leading to overwhelming workloads which results in regular overtime. This creates a cycle of poor job quality, leaving nurses and midwives with less time and ability to manage their caring and other responsibilities, let alone have time for recreational activities.

“The report identified several key factors required to rebuild the female-dominated workforce, including flexibility and better control over rosters and shifts, manageable workloads that protect worker wellbeing, work design that encourages work-life balance and increased support from managers.

“Whilst we are finally seeing some movement on workloads and pay, we have to ensure that the rostering systems are future fit.

“We’ve called on the government and NSW Health to collaborate with us on addressing the report’s recommendations, which warn that a failure to establish and scale flexibility initiatives, provide greater control over rostering, and deliver manageable workloads, will only compound the public health system’s recruitment and retention struggles.

“We cannot afford to file this report away on a shelf. Already we are seeing nurses and midwives decreasing their hours, despite the hit to their wages, as the only way to gain a sustainable work-life balance.

“With a global shortage of nurses and midwives, we can’t sit back and expect the status quo to deliver change. If we, the union, government and NSW Health, are serious about solving the recruitment and retention crisis in NSW, then together we must use these findings to deliver genuine flexibility.”

​​​​​Professor Cooper, who presented the report on day two of the conference, highlighted the risks that arise when the highly feminised nursing and midwifery professions do not have access to “good flex”.

“Nurses and midwives are essential to the health and wellbeing of our communities and the functioning of our healthcare system. In this study, nurses and midwives told us they need flexibility and want better control over rosters and shifts, more manageable workloads, and work that lets them have a life,” said Professor Cooper.

“A sustainable workplace provides what we call as ‘good flex’: predictability, support and genuine choice. This is different from ‘bad flex’, where workers are expected to absorb unpredictable hours or changes to their working time. Flexibility is only good when it works for both workers and employers, and this is a key retention factor in feminised, frontline workforces like nursing and midwifery.

“The public system cannot continue to rely on the commitment of its staff, while expecting them to sacrifice their own wellbeing. We must ensure that the people who save our lives are not sacrificing their own lives to do it.”

With more than 700 nurses and midwives in attendance at the conference, NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary, Katrina Bough, said both the report and this year’s theme, ‘Leading Together, Shaping Tomorrow’ underlined the need to futureproof the state’s health workforce.

“Nurses and midwives deserve good flex. It’s imperative the government acts on this report and starts making changes today. To futureproof our workforce, we must scale flexible work models that support our female-dominated professions, rather than relying on a rigid system that burns people out,” said Ms Bough.

“Rebuilding the workforce requires more than just recruitment targets, it requires senior management support, predictable rostering, and a cultural shift that protects the wellbeing of the nurses and midwives providing the care.

“Nurse unit managers are often bearing the burden of rostering, so they need the systemic changes that will support them to do this in a way that promotes good flex for their nursing and midwifery staff.”

In addition to the launch of the Choice, Voice and Control report, the 81st Annual Conference included presentations on global nursing leadership, workforce readiness for artificial intelligence, and a keynote speech from Professor Peter Greste, the award-winning foreign correspondent.

Delegates will debate motions including lobbying for protection against workplace violence for nurses and midwives, advocating for alternative models of maternity care in rural, regional, and remote areas, and demands on the NSW Government to take responsibility for building homes that nurses, midwives, carers and other essential workers can actually afford.

The 81st NSWNMA Annual Conference runs until Wednesday, 29 July.

A copy of the report is available here: Choice, Voice, and Control.

It’s not just about pay – Harvard study finds meaningful work cuts nursing attrition by 54%

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For years, we have heard the same story: nurses are leaving because they’re exhausted, underpaid, and overworked.  

And yes, all the above is true. But a new Harvard study suggests that the full picture is more nuanced than the headlines. We’ve tended to think that addressing the nursing workforce issue is as simple as paying them more and hiring more staff, but the research has discovered something surprising. 

How nurses work matters just as much as how much nurses work 

The study followed 420 ICU nurses over two years and found that when nurses were trusted with about a 10% increase in real patient care responsibilities, their likelihood of quitting drastically decreased by over 54%. 

Yes, they were doing more work, but their work was meaningful – it held purpose for them. 

But when responsibilities were added without intention, trust declined, burnout increased, and the likelihood of resignations rose significantly. 

For managers and leaders, the ability to differentiate between assigning additional purposeful patient care duties and simply filling in the gaps is key to workforce retention. When a nursing individual feels valued and takes ownership, their commitment to the role increases. 

Team support matters 

Nursing is emotionally heavy work. The study found that nurses who felt supported by their team experienced a 40% drop in their chances of quitting. 

A strong team culture isn’t there to completely remove the stress of overloads and overtime, but it does reduce the impact by creating a sense of belonging.  

So what can workplaces actually do? 

To address the workforce retention issues, hospitals need to realise that it is about more than just pay and headcount. 

  • Work design should be looked at from a perspective of intention – more patient care duties should feel like a build on trust, not punishment.  
  • Be cautious of responsibility overload – more tasks does not equal more meaningful responsibilities. 
  • Create strong team cultures and structures so that nurses have a support network in the workplace 

For a workforce already experiencing high levels of burnout and attrition, reducing the workload is only part of the solution. Now, it’s also about how we design the work so that nurses feel valued and trusted, not just less busy. 

 

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