August 14, 2026

Industrial Relations Commission

Invisible skills now visible, but wages are stuck in the past

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The NSW Industrial Relations Commission agreed that nurses and midwives have been historically undervalued because of gender, but female-led workforces must still pay the price for the state’s shaky bottom line.

For well over a century, the nurses and midwives of this state have transformed the landscape of care, evolving clinical practice into a high-stakes, technical science. Every day, our members navigate a world of complex pharmacology, life-saving technology, and acute clinical decision-making, expertise that was once unimaginable. 

And yet, while the clinical reality of your work has moved into the future, the industrial value assigned to it remains anchored in the past. 

When the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) awarded a three-year wage deal from 1 July 2025, including 16% for Registered Nurses and Midwives, 18% for Enrolled Nurses and 28% for Assistants in Nursing and Midwifery, the decision was rightly met with mixed emotions from our members. 

The wage increase for Assistants in Nursing is fantastic and well overdue. However, for Enrolled Nurses, Registered Nurses and Midwives, who make up the overwhelming majority of our impacted workforce and are predominantly women, it is not enough to make up for decades of gendered wage suppression. 

Following the decision, Health Minister Ryan Park labelled it “historic,” and he’s right, inasmuch as it is a reminder of the historic undervaluation that hinders feminised labour. Amongst NSW public sector workers, entry-level nurses and midwives are paid less than teachers, police and firefighters (often by margins of 10%-20%). 

In handing down the ruling, the court agreed the work value of nursing had been historically undervalued, principally because it involves the exercise of caring or interpersonal skills, often referred to as “invisible skills.” The IRC also noted that while the visible skills of registered nurses have been recognised, the invisible skills have been consistently overlooked. 

In a witness statement tendered during the case, Professor Rae Cooper AO, a leading expert in Gender and Employment Relations at the University of Sydney, explained why. 

“These skills are often treated as ‘natural’ to women rather than specialised,” argued Cooper. “Which has led to them being excluded from, or valued less in, job and skill evaluations and in classifications in awards and other instruments.” 

As Professor Cooper established, categorising clinical care as a “natural capacity” of women renders that work economically invisible. Subsequently, the IRC agreed that a one-off increase was necessary to address the possibility that your work is undervalued for gender reasons, but with the caveat that any conclusion must consider the government’s fiscal position, as required by the legislation. 

For members, this felt like a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same. Once again, you were being asked to shoulder the burden of the state’s bottom line. 

Compounding the issue is the reality that the gender pay gap continues to worsen (most recently sitting at 7.3% in 2025, up from 6.2% in 2023 and 4.5% in 2022) under the Minns’ Labor government; a worrying sign considering that same government is the largest employer of women in Australia. 

As of June, 66.6 per cent of the 478,303 public sector employees were women, with nursing boasting the highest number of female employees. 

Rather than using the size of your workforce as a scapegoat, the government should seize the opportunity to actually listen to the issues being tabled by its largest cohort of employees. 

We know that nurses and midwives feel overworked and undervalued, with workloads and pay regularly cited as the most common reasons for leaving the industry or moving interstate. But the welcome news is that we’re making headway on both fronts.  

After more than a decade of campaigning, staffing ratios will finally be introduced across medical, surgical and specialty wards – the next stage of the nurse-to-patient ratios rollout – delivering well overdue workload relief for members. On pay, the IRC’s confirmation of gender undervaluation provides us an inarguable platform to build from as we fight to improve wage conditions in the future.  

We will never stop advocating for the NSW Government to pioneer a budget for a health system that values your work. We remain committed to finding solutions that make a difference to our members today, tomorrow and into the future. 

Government must act on gender pay gap

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The Industrial Relations Commission confirmed that nursing is undervalued because it is mainly done by women – but said the state can’t afford to address the pay gap.

The IRC decision in the Association’s Special Case does not fully remedy the historic undervaluation of nurses’ work on gender grounds, said Dr Michael Lyons, senior lecturer at University of Western Sydney’s School of Business. 

He said the IRC agreed that nurses and midwives work is undervalued on a gender basis. 

However, it also said the government’s financial position constrained the size of the pay increase.  

This “capacity to pay” consideration has historically limited progress on closing the gender pay gap in female-dominated industries including aged care and children’s services, Dr Lyons noted. 

He said the government should take further action to address gender undervaluation in relation to state employees because “it is essential to the legitimacy of the public sector pay-fixing system.” 

In its decision, the IRC said that as of May 2025 there were 69,300 nurses and midwives in the NSW Health service costing about $7.5 billion annually. 

Every one per cent increase in their pay would cost the government an additional $74.5 million per year 
and any pay increase would have to be funded with debt, the IRC said. 

“A consequence of the fact that so many nurses work in the NSW Health service is that any increase in their pay has a stimulatory effect not only on the economy of NSW but also on that of Australia, with the potential in a tight economy to put upward pressure on interest rates,” it added. 

Expert evidence 

Dr Lyons and his UWS colleague Professor Meg Smith co-authored two expert reports to the IRC in support of the gender undervaluation component of the NSWNMA’s pay claim. 

They were among 12 experts called by the Association to give evidence in person or in writing on gender-based undervaluation and work value changes. 

Dr Lyons said the full bench’s formal finding that nurses and midwives work is undervalued on a gender basis is an important outcome. 

“Identifying the problem and its causes is important, even if the remedy is incomplete,” he said. 

He added that the decision helped to establish “caring” as a core element of work value in health roles involving patient interaction and not solely a gender issue. 

Dr Lyons said the IRC awarded bigger increases to ENs and AiNs than to the much larger cohort of registered nurses and midwives partly for cost reasons. 

It also reflected the IRC’s view that the work of ENs and AiNs involves a greater component of historically undervalued “invisible caring skills”. 

The IRC maintained that the 1989 professionalisation increases for nurses partly addressed gender undervaluation of RNs work.  

Dr Lyons disagreed; the 1989 decision was a work value case focused on education and qualifications, with no explicit consideration of gender or caring, he said.  

Invisible skills 

He described gender undervaluation as a broad social issue across all caring-focused roles where skills are often “invisible.”  

“With women comprising two-thirds of the NSW government workforce, failing to address this undervaluation undermines the legitimacy of the state’s pay-fixing system.  

“Therefore, government action beyond the IRC’s order is necessary.” 

Dr Lyons said the NSWNMA presented a comprehensive and robust case. 

“The Association’s evidence on gender undervaluation was sufficiently strong that the Health Secretary did not directly contest much of it. 

“Notably, some of the Health Secretary’s own witnesses didn’t directly challenge the Association’s evidence and some even supported it.”

Caring skills undervalued 

Professor Rae Cooper AO of the University of Sydney was a witness for the NSWNMA at the Special Case hearings. 

The Commission acknowledged her as “an internationally recognised expert in gender equality at work and industrial relations policy and practice”. 

It accepted her conclusion that the work of nurses “involves the exercise of certain invisible skills, sometimes referred to as caring skills, that have historically not been adequately valued; and such skills have not previously been expressly considered by the Commission in setting rates of pay”. 

It noted her opinion that “feminised frontline sectors are essential for, and not merely peripheral to, the functioning of the economy and society” as revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Commission also referred to Professor Cooper’s evidence about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women globally. 

“She gave evidence that it impacted heavily feminised frontline workers through a combination of job loss, exposure to health risks, more intense unpaid care responsibilities, and more insecure work, with 55 per cent of people who lost their jobs in the first year of the pandemic being women.  

“Professor Cooper explained that at the same time the closure of schools and childcare facilities drove a spike in women’s unpaid work and a ‘traditionalisation’ of domestic labour, with women taking on a greater load and share of home-learning and household work, constraining labour market participation.”

Mixed emotions over pay deal for NSW nurses and midwives

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Public sector nurses and midwives across New South Wales have expressed mixed emotions about today’s wages ruling by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC), fearing the pay increase awarded to Registered Nurses and Midwives will not fix the structural reform that is needed.

The Full Bench of the IRC awarded a three-year wage deal from 1 July 2025:

  • 16% for Registered Nurses and Midwives – 10% in the first year, followed by 3% in the remaining two years.
  • 18% for Enrolled Nurses – 12% in the first year, followed by 3% in the remaining two years.
  • 28% for Assistants in Nursing and Midwifery – 22% in the first year, followed by 3% in the remaining two years.

NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) General Secretary, Michael Whaites, said the IRC’s decision was historic but fell short of what was needed to repair the state’s public health system.

“Today’s announcement gives a record breaking pay deal for nurses and midwives in New South Wales. Yet for registered nurses and midwives it is not enough to fix the structural reform that we need in this state,” said Mr Whaites.

“Registered nurses and midwives are the backbone of this workforce. They are the majority of this workforce, and we had hoped for a better outcome for them.

“For enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing and midwifery, this is a great outcome. It recognises the undervaluation of the work that they do and gives them the recognition they rightly deserve.

“We respect the IRC’s decision in awarding these increases to nurses and midwives, but it leaves further work for the NSW government to do.

“Throughout our campaign, we had politician after politician saying that they know nurses and midwives are worth more, we just can’t afford it and yet, here again today we hear that registered nurses and midwives should be paid more, but we just can’t afford it.

“In handing down its decision, the Full Bench highlighted that our members are essential, irreplaceable and, ‘historically undervalued’ while also citing the IRC’s obligation to consider the state of the NSW economy. This isn’t a reflection on the quality of our case, but rather an outcome of the arbitration process.

“This is an outcome that says that women’s work has to remain undervalued because of the economy – that’s an appalling position for us to be in in 2026. We will continue to campaign for our registered nurses and midwives to make sure they’re valued for the work they do.”

“We welcome the return of a court of arbitration for public sector wage disputes. This has assisted us in redressing the damage done by the previous government’s wage cap which saw the real value of our members’ wages decrease.”

The NSWNMA filed the state’s largest wage case in early 2025, comprising of more than 17,000 pages of evidence, to demonstrate the work value of nurses and midwives and the historic gendered undervaluation of the professions.

NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary, Katrina Bough, said today’s decision would not address cost-of-living pressures and workforce challenges being felt across the state.

“Today’s decision is unlikely to assist in attracting new experienced nurses and midwives to our professions. It risks more experienced nurses and midwives leaving our public health system in coming years, which will result in increased staffing challenges in an already stressed system,” Ms Bough said.

“Nurses and midwives are struggling to pay the bills in this cost-of living crisis. While we welcome the boost to their wages, it doesn’t address the gap between male dominated industries and our heavily feminised workforce.

“The NSW Government cannot hide behind this decision. They must take responsibility for the ongoing crisis that will continue to be driven by a rate of pay that does not address gender undervaluation of nurses and midwives in NSW.

“We’d like to thank our member and expert witnesses who were part of this historic case, and the tens of thousands of nurses and midwives’ who campaigned during this two-year wage fight. We couldn’t have got this far without all our remarkable members.”

The full decision can be found on the NSW IRC website.

Why our claim is a ‘Special Case’

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Over three days in December, highly regarded industrial relations barrister Leo Saunders summed up the evidence in support of the union’s main pay and conditions claims at the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC).

They include a substantial wage increase, additional personal leave, and a right to request flexible work arrangements.

Mr Saunders said the Association’s claim was a “special case” that deserves to be considered outside the usual restrictive wage-fixing principles.

He said the claim was justified by significant changes in the scope and complexity of nursing and midwifery work, partly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and evolving professional standards.

His overarching argument was that nurses’ and midwives’ work has been historically undervalued, particularly due to gender-based factors, and that significant changes in work value and the rising cost of living now require substantial improvements to pay and conditions.

He asked the IRC to consider a combination of several factors, including historical undervaluation, work value change, economic context, and recruitment pressures.

HISTORICAL UNDERVALUATION

The Association is seeking a 35 per cent increase (including interim increases already awarded) over three years.

Mr Saunders said the claim was justified by a combination of historical gender-based undervaluation and substantial changes in work value.

Nurses’ and midwives’ scope of practice has expanded to include more high-value tasks and time spent on complex duties.

He said that until recently, gender-based undervaluation of women’s work had been a feature of the Australian industrial relation system.

Mr Saunders drew on expert evidence to show that caring and interpersonal skills, often associated with “women’s work,” have not been properly valued in past wage-setting processes.

These “invisible skills” were critical to nursing but had not been explicitly recognised in pay rates.

Mr Saunders urged the IRC to address this undervaluation and ensure fair recognition of the full range of nursing skills in wage outcomes.

A key witness for the Association on this issue was Professor Meg Smith, the Deputy Dean at the School of Business at Western Sydney University.

“Undervaluation of women’s work is a thread which links together the three causes of the gender pay gap: occupational segregation, discrimination, and women’s unequal share of family responsibilities,” she told the IRC.

CHANGES IN WORK VALUE

Mr Saunders outlined how the nature of nursing and midwifery has changed dramatically over the past 15 years.

He pointed to increased complexity and acuity of patient care, advances in education and regulation, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as drivers of intensified demands and responsibilities.

He argued that these changes are not merely evolutionary but represent a significant uplift in the skill, responsibility, and intensity required of nurses and midwives, justifying a substantial wage increase.

“We are talking here of … significantly over a decade of change in a field characterised by continuous improvement in technology, in science, in every aspect of health care and in interpersonal and cultural awareness,” he said.

ECONOMIC AND FISCAL CONSIDERATIONS

Mr Saunders said nurses have experienced a sharper decline in real wages than other sectors, and that restoring fair and reasonable conditions is both economically sound and just.

He said that between 2020 and now, Australia and NSW “experienced unanticipated and sharp inflation”.

Nurses’ wages in relation to inflation “did not come close to keeping up and fell faster in real terms than the others around New South Wales.”

He argued that while the wage claim for nurses and midwives is macroeconomically significant, the fiscal evidence presented by the government did not justify substantial wage restraint.

The government had exaggerated the negative fiscal impacts, he said.

He said the evidence does not demonstrate a need for significant wage moderation and urged the IRC to focus on “fair valuation rather than fiscal alarmism”.

RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

Mr Saunders said ongoing workforce shortages demonstrate the need for improved pay and conditions.

He noted well-documented difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff, with data showing declining retention rates and challenges in filling vacancies, especially in regional areas.

This was supported by both statistical evidence and the lived experiences of senior practitioners.

He said staff shortages have a direct effect on the skill mix within teams, leading to increased pressure on existing staff.

When experienced nurses leave, the remaining workforce must take on more complex tasks and greater responsibility, which can further intensify workloads and contribute to burnout.

Mr Saunders argued that this cycle undermines the quality of care and the sustainability of the profession.

Mr Saunders pointed out that NSW nurses’ pay rates are falling behind their interstate and federal counterparts.

This comparative disadvantage made it harder to attract and retain staff, particularly in border regions where nurses may be tempted to move for better conditions.

Higher pay was essential to prevent nurses “voting with their feet” and to maintain a stable workforce.

He said one-off payments to attract staff to regional areas were not a substitute for systemic improvements in base pay and conditions. Sustainable recruitment and retention required long-term solutions that address undervaluation and work value changes.

He linked recruitment and retention directly to the ability of the health system to deliver safe, high-quality care.

Persistent shortages and high turnover rates threatened the effectiveness of health services, increased reliance on overtime and agency staff, and could lead to gaps in care.

He argued that improving pay and conditions is not only fair to nurses and midwives but also essential for the public interest.

OTHER CLAIMS

The Association is asking the IRC to double personal leave entitlements, introduce a right to request flexible work arrangements, and introduce a meal allowance for patient transport nurses.

Mr Saunders framed these as necessary updates to bring nurses’ conditions in line with broader public sector standards and to address anomalies.”

Fingers crossed on a good outcome

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Readers of The Lamp will agree that nurses and midwives are skilled professionals deserving of a decent wage that reflects the expertise and responsibilities we have. Our labour forms the very backbone of the health system.

The NSWNMA have conducted a long campaign for a significant pay rise and better working conditions.

It’s been a privilege to have played a small part in this campaign. I’ve been active in working with my colleagues in my branch: organising our contribution to industrial action, bearing witness by attending the NSW parliament in the public gallery, meeting with MPs, and attending hearings at the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC).

I attended the first and the final hearings at the IRC, and quite a few in between.

The proceedings were at times a bit dry – we heard very technical legal arguments about whether certain pieces of evidence could be admitted – and sometimes entertaining, for example to have NHPPD explained to the Commissioners, and their surprise with just how easily it can be manipulated.

At the same time, it was distressing to hear the legal arguments for the Ministry undervaluing our work, and quite frankly disappointing to witness senior nursing management testifying against our interests. On the other hand, I feel nothing but pride and admiration for our colleagues who took the stand and faced cross-examination. That’s not an easy thing to do.

I’m left feeling hopeful that we will receive a good outcome. Fingers crossed!

Liz Turner Registered Nurse

Historic court case begins on better pay for nurses and midwives

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The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association’s (NSWNMA) landmark campaign to improve public sector nurses and midwives’ pay and conditions will culminate in one of the state’s biggest legal cases in decades, as a six week hearing gets underway in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) today. 

 After rejecting the state government’s offer of 9% over three years, the NSWNMA has mounted a comprehensive case for a 35% pay increase over three years to address the needs of the workforce and the healthcare system, as well as improved working conditions including an increase to the sick leave entitlement. 

 NSWNMA General Secretary, Shaye Candish, said the union had thrown everything at the legal case, after being unable to resolve its pay dispute at the negotiation table. 

 “It’s disappointing we weren’t able to settle our pay claim out of the courts, after almost two years of campaigning for a decent pay offer for our members,” said Ms Candish. 

 “We are putting the best possible case forward to deliver public sector nurses and midwives across NSW the recognition, pay, and conditions they rightly deserve.  

 “Nurses and midwives are highly skilled clinicians, and a wage increase that acknowledges their incredible contribution to keeping communities well, is long overdue. 

 “In order to boost recruitment and retention and reduce workforce shortages, nurses and midwives must receive a competitive wage that addresses the wage stagnation our members have experienced under the previous Coalition government’s wages policy.”  

 The NSWNMA’s case details compelling evidence of: 

  • the gendered undervaluation of nurses and midwives’ work 
  • the work value increase over the past 16 years​ 
  • ​​​the impacts of productivity and inflation  
  • recruitment and retention across the Public Health System. 

 NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary, Michael Whaites, said after failing to reach a suitable agreement with the state government on improved pay and conditions, it was a case the union was eager to finally see come to fruition.  

 “The Association’s legal team has compiled more than 17,400 pages of evidence, including statements from a dozen experts and academics and almost 40 witness statements from nurses and midwives,” said Mr Whaites. 

 “Our evidence sets out work value changes that nurses and midwives have experienced over the last 16 years, including the challenges and complexities of their clinical work.    

 “We also have expert evidence that demonstrates the current and historic gender-based undervaluation of nursing and midwifery, including the worsening gender pay gap in the public sector, which is at a decade-high.  

 “We won’t fix the issues in the public health system until we value and respect our nurses and midwives. The government’s offer fails to meet this simple test.  

 “It’s time nurses and midwives were appropriately remunerated and recognised for the critical and undeniable role they play in the public health system.”   

 The six week hearing will run until 7 November, with three days reserved for final submissions in December. 

 Hearings will be live streamed on the IRC’s YouTube channel. 

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