16 News

The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) has voted to accept the NSW Government’s offer of a 3 per cent interim wage increase and enhancements to working conditions.

The agreement provides an interim 3 per cent pay increase for public sector nurses and midwives, paid retrospectively from 1 July 2025, plus 0.5 per cent in superannuation.

Nurses and Midwives will also see an increase to their Night Shift Penalty rate from 15 to 20 per cent, effective from 1 July 2025, with this issue no longer part of future arbitration proceedings.

Nurses and midwives will also see improvements to their working conditions and work-life balance, including:

• Two consecutive days off
• No night shifts before annual leave unless requested
• No changes on published roster without consultation

The offer gives public sector nurses and midwives a pay rise now, while still allowing a pathway for the remaining matters to be determined by the independent Industrial Relations Commission.

The Minns Labor Government re-empowered the independent industrial umpire to make a decision free of a wages cap.

This improvement to night shift loadings and interim pay rise follows an 8 per cent increase to pay (inclusive of a 1 per cent increase to superannuation) for nurses over the first two years of the Minns Labor Government.

After 12 years of wage suppression and neglect of the health system, the Minns Labor Government abolished the wages cap and is working to rebuild the health workforce.

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey:

“This interim deal on pay, nightshift penalties and improvements to conditions is an important step towards the long-term repair of healthcare across NSW.

“We have delivered wage agreements for 81 per cent of public sector workers – investing in the teachers, paramedics, health workers and police who provide essential services.  This would not be possible under the Coalition’s wage cap.”

Minister for Health Ryan Park:

“When we came to office, NSW was facing a health workforce crisis – our nurses, our paramedics, our hospital workers were leaving. We are turning things around.

“This vote is a major step to addressing the chronic shortage of nurses in our hospitals but there is more to do.

“We have an independent process underway to determine what we need to do to ensure NSW nurses have the pay and conditions needed, including to address the gender pay gap that exists.

“This was opposed by the Liberals – only Labor can keep getting on with the job of improving our hospitals and recruiting more health workers.

Minister for Industrial Relations Sophie Cotsis: 

“This agreement is long overdue recognition for nurses and midwives who have been campaigning for a long time. We are proud to support those who care for our communities day and night.

“The Minns Labor Government continues the work of rebuilding the state’s essential services and reforming the industrial relations system.

“That work began with the scrapping of the Coalition’s wages cap which was in place for 12 years, introducing a fairer, modern bargaining framework, setting up an Industrial court and amending the Industrial Relations Act to include a new Object to achieve gender equality in the workplace.

“Our agreement to a historic increase in night shift penalties and improved working conditions for nurses and midwives reflects our commitment to valuing frontline workers.”

A Project of Concern Summit has been held in Canberra to discuss the Civil Military Air Traffic Management System (CMATS) project.

Minister for Defence Industry the Hon Pat Conroy MP hosted senior Defence and Airservices Australia officials and industry representatives. 

This Summit was an important milestone that provided representatives the opportunity to discuss the progress made on the remediation plan since the last Project of Concern Summit in November 2024. 

The Summit allowed stakeholders to come together, share updates and strengthen collaboration, supporting the ongoing work to deliver this important capability and ensure it meets operational needs.

Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Pat Conroy MP:

“I would like to thank all representatives for their attendance as we focus on the progress we have made on remediating project performance.

“Project of Concern Summits provide a valuable forum for Defence and industry to engage on projects requiring high-level intervention to achieve successful delivery. Participating parties identify remediation methods, commit to working together and review project progress. 

“These summits are an important part of the Albanese Government’s efforts to actively monitor high-priority projects and maintain momentum on the delivery of capabilities for the Australian Defence Force.” 

Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Higher Education spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has called on universities to respect the overwhelming mandate of their students and end all partnerships with weapons companies, following the results of a historic national referendum on Palestine.

More than 5,000 students across roughly 20 campuses voted in the first National Union of Students (NUS) referendum in the union’s four-decade history. The grassroots referendum passed two motions almost unanimously: censuring the Australian government for its complicity in the genocide in Gaza, and demanding universities cut ties with weapons manufacturers.

In February, Senator Mehreen Faruqi introduced a Bill requiring universities to disclose and divest from any partnerships with dirty industries, including weapons manufacturers, gambling, fossil fuel and tobacco companies.

Senator Faruqi, Deputy Leader of the Greens and Spokesperson for Tertiary Education:

“For the first time in decades, thousands of students have spoken with one voice, demanding that their universities stop profiting from war, militarism and the machinery of genocide. University leadership cannot ignore this.

“Students have given their universities a clear, democratic instruction: end the dirty partnerships with the weapons companies profiting from Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“Universities exist to serve the public interest. They shouldn’t be getting into bed with arms companies and helping to sanitize their reputations.

“History will not be kind to those who ignored this moment — University Vice-Chancellors must cut the bloody ties now or forever wear the shame.

“Students across the country have issued a historic censure of the Albanese Government for its complicity in the genocide in Gaza. This is a wake-up call from the next generation, and the message is clear: sanction Israel, stop the two-way arms trade, and end the complicity.

“When thousands of students, in the first national referendum of its kind, vote almost unanimously to condemn the Government’s role in war crimes, it cannot be ignored.

“In light of this historic result, the Albanese government must back the Greens’ bill forcing universities to be transparent and cut ties with dirty industries—whether weapons, fossil fuels, or gambling—so our institutions serve the public good, not corporate profiteers.”

The Home Affairs (2025 Measures No. 1) Bill 2025 was rammed through today by the Liberals and Labor, following revelations that the secret agreement with Nauru signed by the Albanese Government will cost $2.5 billion. 

In a rushed hearing last night, it was made clear that this Bill would impact tens of thousands of people, denying them natural justice, and the secret Nauru Memorandum of Understanding signed last week will cost billions. 

The Department of Home Affairs could not even confirm if the Nauru MOU made reference to the Refugee Convention. This is despite the Nauru President David Adeang saying that Nauru’s long-term goal is to remove people back to the country they fled, in clear breach of the Convention. 

Under this law, the Minister can direct a woman who is escaping domestic violence to get a passport. When she rightfully is fearful that doing this would require her to meet her abuser, this law prevents her from even informing the government of this fact. Instead, she either puts herself in danger by obeying the Minister or goes to jail for trying to protect herself.

This law also allows the Government to forcibly remove people to Nauru (and any other third country with which there is an agreement) with no natural justice considerations. 

Labor refused to allow submissions from the public at the hearing into the Bill last night. However, the Greens tabled a series of submissions from the public to ensure they are on the record, which can be accessed here. 

Senator David Shoebridge, Greens Spokesperson for Immigration, said: “There are no depths Labor won’t explore to outflank the Coalition on the right on immigration. 

“The cornerstone of our entire legal system, natural justice, has just been smashed by the Albanese Government.

“Mandatory detention, offshore detention, preventing people who sought asylum by sea from resettling, a Trump-style travel ban and now laws that can deny natural justice, this is Labor’s legacy. It’s a legacy that deliberately undermines multiculturalism and fairness. 

“When Labor makes laws that say some people who were not born here are denied basic legal rights, that feeds the far-right extremism we saw at anti-immigration rallies over the last weekend. 

“Australia should be treating our neighbours with respect, not bribing them to become a 21st-century penal colony. 
“The Pacific can see how Australia bullies and bribes its neighbours. 

“Failing to treat our neighbours as friends and equals comes at a cost, and is a long-term threat to Australia’s political and moral leadership in the Pacific.”

The Greens have reacted to the government’s announcement regarding compensation for Robodebt victims, warning of future pain and cost unless Labor takes their obligations under social welfare law seriously and stops punching down on poor people.

The Targeted Compliance Framework, which operationalises the Government’s enforcement of mutual obligations, has been subject to inquiry by the Commonwealth Ombudsman and a commissioned report by Deloitte due to widespread issues with payment cancellation and IT issues. 

The damning Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report last month found over 1,000 welfare recipients had their welfare payments unlawfully cancelled by the automated system over two years.

As the Anti-Poverty Center has identified, nearly 350,000 payment suspensions were issued just in the first quarter of 2025, affecting more than 280,000 people out of the roughly 800,000 who had requirements during the period. 

Last week, the Greens and crossbenchers joined in Parliament to introduce a bill to force the Government to implement the outstanding recommendations from the Robodebt Royal Commission, including a six year limit on debt recovery. The Department currently holds welfare debts dating back to the 1970s.

Senator Penny Allman-Payne, Greens spokesperson for Social Services:

“It’s good news that Robodebt victims will be getting more compensation, but it sure would be cheaper and easier for everyone if the government would stop ignoring the law and punching down on poor people.”

“No amount of compensation can undo the pain and the harm caused by cruel treatment of  poor people that sends them into crises and in some cases to take their own lives.

“The last time the Greens asked in Estimates, neither the Minister nor the Department could confirm the current welfare compliance system is lawful. Millions of payments are suspended every year under this potentially unlawful system, with little process or oversight. 

“The Greens have a Bill in parliament right now.  Labor could implement the outstanding Robodebt recommendations including the six year limit on debt recoveries, and to stop the rampant suspension of welfare payments which takes life-saving funds out of the hands of over a hundred thousand people each month. History will repeat itself until they do.”

Just one day after Labor was spectacularly forced into a backflip by the Greens, Opposition and the crossbench over its stubborn refusal to address the aged care waitlist, a new independent report has smashed Labor’s aged care reforms and calls the entire system into question.

The Inspector-General of Aged Care report has unequivocally said that the Government’s aged care reforms will not deliver the change recommended by the Aged Care Royal Commission four years ago.

The report has sounded the alarm on growing fees and co-payments, raising the prospect of older Australians being forced to forgo the care that they need due to cost. 

The Greens have long supported an end to the ‘rationing’ of aged care, which has led to the current aged care waitlist.

Greens spokesperson for older people Senator Penny Allman-Payne has called on the government to come clean on how much older people will pay under the new system; and as the report has called for, to immediately commission independent modelling on the impact of aged care fees and co-payments on the ability of older people to access the care they need.

Senator Penny Allman-Payne, Greens spokesperson for Older People:

“This is a shocking wake up call for supporters of the new Act. This report has warned of a two-tiered system, where aged care increasingly becomes about the care you can afford rather than the care you need. 

“I am scared stiff for older people under this new system. 

“We have just managed to drag the Government to deliver more home care packages, but this report shows that there is a co-payment tsunami about to break on the older people in this country. 

“The financialisation of aged care is terrifying.

“Labor needs to come clean about how much older people will pay under this new system and whether they will be able to access care.

“As the report calls for, the Government must immediately commission further independent modelling of the impact of co-payments on wait times, hospital bed block, and access to care, and they must not hide the findings like they have done throughout this entire process. 

“Now more than ever, we need transparency for older people.”

“The inquiry I chaired had to fight tooth and nail for every scrap of information. I am warning the Government now that the Greens will do the same again if we have to, to expose this aged care debacle.”

Extracts from the Aged Care Royal Commission Implementation Report 2025: 

“The Royal Commission recommended the government create an entitlement to aged care. The government chose not to accept this recommendation and therefore the new Act retains a rationed system: the new Support at Home program will eventually aim to achieve average waiting periods of 3 months. This is not the model of timely access to care that the Commissioners called for.” – page 7

“However, in this report, the Inspector-General queries whether particular reforms will have the inadvertent effect of both prejudicing access for those who need it most and potentially creating unnecessary expenditure at the tertiary level of aged care.” – page 7

“The Inspector-General shares the fears of stakeholders that the manner in which co-payments and other aspects of the reforms have been structured, could potentially both prejudice equity of access to care and create inadvertent cost blow in other areas.” – page 28 

“It must be said that co-payments are contrary to the Royal Commission’s intent. While the Inspector-General understands the reality of the budget constraints, she holds genuine fears that the manner of implementing co-payments may set up a scenario where vulnerable older Australians will forego care: either because they cannot afford it or because they are worried about the cost. This will be a keen area of monitoring for the Inspector-General going forward.” – page 8

“…the current government funding model sees funding primarily focussed on clinical care, with ‘non-clinical care’ subject to significant co-payments. This leaves open the possibility that those with the least means will end up receiving the lowest level of care due to their inability to fund the co-payments, despite their entitlement to high quality care under the Act.” – page 8

“However, from the primary legislation alone, there is a clear case for some concern. Outstanding recommendations from the Royal Commission are not being delivered. The transformational change Commissioners envisaged has not been delivered to date and will not be delivered by the Act. As outlined in Chapter 4, stakeholders and the Inspector-General are anticipating a range of unintended, and intended but undesirable, consequences to become evident following the Act’s commencement.” – page 51

“Stakeholder dissatisfaction and uncertainty with the new co-payment requirements has been one of the most striking features of the consultation process for this report. As one submission put it, co-payments will result in the Act ‘establishing, if not outright endorsing, a system where continuity of care is increasingly tied to one’s ability to cover out-of-pocket costs and co-payments. Rather than ensuring equitable access, such a framework risks marginalising those who cannot afford to bridge the financial gaps’. Such a notion was ‘never part of the Royal Commission’s vision.’ – page 29