Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Polley for that supplementary—and, yes, I can. Aged-care workers for way too long were underpaid and undervalued for their crucial work. In fact they were some of the lowest paid workers in the economy. Is it any wonder that we saw people leaving the sector to find jobs elsewhere?

In the May budget we funded a historic pay rise for aged-care workers—a 15 per cent increase to the award minimum—and, because of this pay rise, personal care workers are now taking home up to $7,300 more each year than they were getting under the former government. Registered nurses are taking home up to $10,000 more each year. We're seeing the difference that this is making to recruitment and retention. Data from seek.com showed a 72 per cent increase in applications per job advertisement for aged-care nursing roles from January 2023 to June 2023.