Federal Government Promises To Fund Pay Rise For Aged Care Workers

The Albanese government has advocated for a wage rise for aged care workers in a submission to the independent Fair Work umpire.

The aged care minister, Anika Wells, on Sunday said the government would push for a significant pay rise for aged care workers, as Unions advocate for a minimum 25 per cent pay rise for aged care employees.

“We need to do something to value aged care workers better and that starts with a pay rise,” Wells told Sky News.

“We haven’t put a number to it because traditionally governments don’t … that is for the commission to decide, exactly what percentage the work value cases is worth, but we have agreed that we will fund it no matter what the decision.”

- Anika Wells

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Paul Sadler, the interim chief executive of the Aged and Community Care Providers Association, on Monday told the ABC that the government’s commitment to fully fund the wage increase, was a significant step forward.

“What we want is wage justice for our workforce. We’ve been unable to pay aged care workers what they deserve now for a long time and this Fair Work Commission case is a really fantastic opportunity to be able to do that," he said.

"What is absolutely critical to that was a commitment by government to fully fund the outcome so we will be looking for the government’s submission today to confirm what Anthony Albanese and Annika Wells had promised that they will do that.

“We know that the aged care workforce is not paid competitively with our colleagues in disability, in health and in retail. So [a significant increase in pay] is going to be very important," Mr Sadler said.

It comes as Tanya Plibersek pledged Labor would find the extra money to support a wage increase.

“You’ve got to think about what aged care workers are earning at the moment - they’re earning as little as $22 an hour, so you can literally earn more stacking shelves at a supermarket than caring for some of our most vulnerable Australians,” she told Seven Network.

“We can’t find enough staff to work in aged care. One of the reasons is that ... they can’t afford to keep working in aged care because can’t pay the bills on 22 bucks an hour.”

- Tanya Plibersek

Details of the submission are set to be revealed on Monday.

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