SA nurses and midwives offered 16 per cent pay rise under new deal

Government and union endorse 16 per cent pay rise offer for SA nurses and midwives Thu 25 Jun 2026 at 6:02pm In short: The state government has offered SA nurses and midwives a 16 per cent pay increase over three years. The government says it is the "absolute best" offer it can make, with the deal now endorsed by the union. What's next? The offer will be voted on by those in the sector and implemented if supported. Nurses and midwives in South Australia would receive a 16 per cent pay rise by mid-2028 under a new deal endorsed by their union and the state government. It would see wages rise by 3 per cent from January 2027, 3 per cent from July 2027 and 4 per cent from July 2028. Those increases are in addition to a 6 per cent increase that has already been agreed to by the state while bargaining was underway. The deal will now be voted on by those working in the sector before being implemented if it is supported. But it falls well short of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation's (ANMF) demand for a 23 per cent raise by the end of next year. The union's secretary, Elizabeth Dabars, said the pay offer would still leave SA's nurses and midwives "laggards" when compared to other states. But she said it was the best that could be achieved in the current climate. "While the offer does not achieve every claim advanced by ANMF SA, it represents meaningful progress and reflects the strength of members who have campaigned, rallied and taken industrial action throughout this bargaining round," she said today. "Our recommendation is a strategic decision to secure significant gains now while continuing to build momentum for future bargaining rounds." She said the union had carefully considered whether anything further could be achieved through more industrial action and potential arbitration. Over several months, the union knocked back offers from the government and staged multiple strikes. Premier Peter Malinauskas said negotiations had been tough, and the offer "represents the absolute best the government can provide for in the current circumstances". "In the current environment, all of our EBA negotiations in the public sector have been difficult,"he said. "They're robust negotiations, unions have a legitimate role to play to get the best outcome for their members, but, similarly, the government's got a role to play to make sure that we're keeping our eye on the bottom line." He said, if the offer is accepted, the wages of nurses in SA would lift "quite substantially". The union said it was disappointed that the government had not agreed to its request to classify all babies in postnatal wards as patients, which would require them to be included as part of minimum staffing ratios. The government has committed to "properly review" the merits of the claim. This deal is the last of a series of public service enterprise agreements struck by the government over the past year, including the pay deals of doctors, paramedics, allied health workers and hospital orderlies.