The Health Services Union (HSU) has welcomed the minimum wage rise, which will provide critical cost-of-living relief for health, aged care and disability workers.
The Fair Work Commission's Expert Panel today ruled that modern award minimum wages would increase by 3.5 per cent from 1 July 2025.
It will mean increases of around $44 per week for a full-time disability support worker, $43 per week for a full-time aged care worker, and $36 per week for a full-time pathology collector – with more increases to come for pathology collectors as a result of the gender undervaluation case.
The Australian union movement called for a 4.5 per cent increase.
HSU National Secretary Lloyd Williams said the decision would help workers across health, aged care, and disability sectors where many employees are heavily reliant on award wages.
"HSU members in sectors like health, aged care and disability are among the most award-reliant workers in the country. This decision is a vital cost-of-living boost for some of Australia's lowest-paid workers," Mr Williams said.
"This decision is an important and measured step towards correcting the real wages decline suffered by award-reliant workers across our sectors in recent years.
"The Albanese Labor Government should be congratulated for pushing for a real wage increase that is economically sustainable, not just one that keeps up with inflation."
The minimum wage decision comes after the Fair Work Commission in April found minimum award rates for many feminised health, care and support roles have been historically undervalued due to gender-based assumptions.
The Commission recommended wage increases of up to 35.23% to correct this imbalance.
"Those wage increases must be passed on in full without any delay," Mr Williams said.
"When combined with the historic gender undervaluation decision, today's increase will make a huge difference to essential workers – most of them women – who've been underpaid and undervalued for far too long.
"Higher wages for some of the lowest-paid workers are a major win but there's still a lot of work to do.
"Essential workers deserve better wages and secure conditions above the minimum."
