Is this true? Average RN salary in OZ is 45 000$

nyapa, RN · Sep 30, 2007

I believe that yes it may be the salary but it is not entirely correct as penalties are added on top of these. Its very rare that nurses work Mon - Fri. Thus we get paid extra for late shifts, night shifts, public holidays and weekends. You can possibly add an extra 10 - 15 thousand on top of the salary with these conditions.

AdelaideChic · Oct 1, 2007

The base salary increases each year, as your experience level increases also... so i would say that the $45,000 is for a first year RN (who has graduated), and of course, the lowest on the totem pole usually gets the ickier shifts, so they generally can pick up a fair bit more from penalties...

Hope that helps!

Nuieve · Oct 1, 2007

Well... 45k AU equals 40k US dollars... and that's about as much or even more than average U.S. graduate earns (depending on the location)

Why then Oz nurses say they're underpaid?

AdelaideChic · Oct 1, 2007

I have some friends that did Tafe courses (like certificate things) that get paid the same as i do (even tho i did a 3 year degree, that cost roughly $12,000) that earn about the same as i do. However, i also work weekends, lates, nights, late earlies, public holidays.... I work on my feet, i work with the risk that someone might suddenly arrest and die, i have the risk of giving the wrong med, basically i feel that my job is a lot more risky and potentially dangerous than some of my friends that (for example) work at call centres or are computer programmers.

One of such friends recently asked a bank how much he could loan, and he was told that he could loan $160,000 which is an ok amount, but not enough for a house in decent suburbs here. He is looking for a single loan, without a deposit, but still. I earn roughly the same, so in theory thats about what i can loan. Maybe it would be different with our education levels or something, but still...

Cleaners at the local shopping centre get paid more per hour than I do.

I do feel i am underpaid, but then again, how much is a nurse worth? Everyone in the public is gonna have a different opinion.

Nuieve · Oct 1, 2007

AdelaideChic,

Do you mean that that site I provided link for does not reflect the level of nurses' earnings in your hospital/area?

AdelaideChic · Oct 1, 2007

In my opinion, i would disagree.

The thing is, it says Salary...

When you look at base income presumin we work only mon to fri, only earlies, then the base earning in the public sector is somehting like $44,800 in Adelaide for a full-time first year RN.

When you take into account that first year RN's are only a small % of the RN community, it doesnt make it average. However, a lot of the nurses are part-time. Many are not working in the public sector.

If you are saying that the figure given, $45,187 is for a full-time graduate nurse on average for a year, it could work out. However, in my first year of nursing, i added about $5,000 to that, because of penalty rates and what not.

Hope that makes sense?

AdelaideChic · Oct 1, 2007

The hourly rate shown on that website also only reflects early shifts, doesnt take into account lates, nights, saturdays, sundays or even public holidays.

elmar22 · Oct 1, 2007

This should give you an idea of nurses' salary in New South Wales, Australia

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/salary.html

As you can see, it depends on your experience.

Nuieve · Oct 2, 2007

Wow, this makes Australian nurses the best paid nurses in the world, doesn't it? Lucky you... :)

veritas · Oct 2, 2007

Wow, this makes Australian nurses the best paid nurses in the world, doesn't it? Lucky you... :)

:monkeydance:

Yes, Oz nurses are in fact the best paid nurses in the world. Plus, in USA, the GST and other taxes are already killers. In Oz the GST and other taxes are VERY low compared to most other 1st world countries. But in any job/country, people think that whatever they are paid is never enough. Grass always seems greener on the other side... plus in Oz, nurses pretty much get paid the same no matter the specialty. In USA and other countries, nurses get paid different rates in different specialties.

nyapa, RN · Oct 3, 2007

Wow, this makes Australian nurses the best paid nurses in the world, doesn't it? Lucky you... :)

:welcome: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: ROFLPIP Nuieve! Did you read the heading "rich nurses" started by an Aussie in the general forum a couple of weeks ago? If so, and if what you say is true, then we Aussies should be on the back foot! :trout:

But as I said over there:

Lets be nurses, lets discuss the pros and cons of nursing generally. It is a shared experience. And we can help each other a lot; it doesn't matter what country we are in.