Analysis by StewartBrown Senior Partner Grant Corderoy has shown that a 25% rise in aged care worker pay could cost up to $18 billion over four years.
According to the figures published in the Australian Financial Review, a 25% rise – as the unions are advocating – would, when combined with Labor’s promise to mandate 24/7 registered nurses and 215 minutes of direct care per resident per day, would cost $2.6 billion in the first year, $3.8 billion in the second, $5 billion in the third, and $6.2 billion in the fourth.
If elected, Labor has promised to make a submission to the Fair Work Commission in support of a pay rise and “fund the outcome” of the case, set to be decided in July.
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