Australian Pay Rate News
Changes to Australian pay, awards and superannuation, each one traced to the Fair Work or ATO page that announced it and dated to when it starts to bite. A change with no start date on it is not usable, because a rate is only right for a period.
What changed, in one line each
Minimum award wages rose 4.75 per cent and the National Minimum Wage became $1,004.90 a week, from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026. On the same day superannuation moved from quarterly to every payday. Two awards changed twice inside two days. The high income threshold rose to $190,100. And since 30 August 2025 the Fair Work Act has carried a principle that stops award penalty and overtime rates being cut.
Health professionals under the Health Services Award moved to a new pay structure with higher rates from the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2026, worked through on Health Professional Pay Rise 2026. Tax is also withheld from award transport payments made on or after 1 October 2026, set out on Award Transport Payments 2026. After that, home care disability workers under the SCHADS Award and some 18 to 20 year olds in retail, fast food and pharmacy get increases from the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2026, set out on Pay Changes from 1 December 2026.
The dates matter more than the percentages. These changes start on four different days, and three of them start on a day that depends on your own pay cycle rather than on the calendar. One more has been decided but has no start date yet: the working from home clause on Clerks Award Working From Home is still a draft.
Every pay and workplace law change, with the date it takes effect.
Newest first. Each row links to the page that sets the change against the rates this site publishes, rather than restating the announcement.
| Change | Takes effect | What it moved |
|---|---|---|
| Clerks Award Working From HomeThe Fair Work Commission decided on 27 August 2026 to add a clause letting Clerks Award staff ask to work from home. It gives no right to work from home and is still a draft. | Not yet. Draft only, no operative date set | Working from home requests under the Clerks Award, not pay |
| APS Pay Offer 2026The Commonwealth tabled its APS pay offer on 13 October 2026: 3.2%, 3.0% and 2.8% over three years, extra for some lower-paid ranges and a minimum 3.0% pay point step. | Proposed only: March 2027 at the earliest, not agreed | A proposed APS pay rise still being bargained, not a current rate |
| Christmas Public Holidays 2026Boxing Day falls on a Saturday, so every state and territory has a public holiday on Monday 28 December. Most keep the Saturday as well; Tasmania moves Boxing Day to the Monday. | Monday 28 December 2026 | Which days around Christmas are public holidays, not a pay rate |
| Pay Changes from 1 December 2026Home care disability workers get the first stage of a gender undervaluation increase, and 18 to 20 year olds in retail, fast food and pharmacy with more than 6 months’ service move closer to the adult rate. | First full pay period on or after 1 December 2026 | SCHADS home care disability rates, junior rates in three awards, and the childcare worker retention payment |
| Tax Return Deadline 202631 October falls on a Saturday, so the ATO next business day rule moves the deadline to the Monday. A tax bill is due by 21 November, and lodging late can attract a penalty of up to 5 penalty units. | Monday 2 November 2026 | The due date for a 2025-26 tax return you lodge yourself, not a pay rate |
| Health Professional Pay Rise 2026Allied health professionals on the award moved to a new structure, with Level 1 set by AQF level and years of experience, and anyone whose new rate is lower keeps their old one. | First full pay period on or after 1 October 2026 | Health professional rates and classifications under the Health Services Award |
| Award Transport Payments 2026Allowances that were award transport payments now have tax withheld each pay, and from 2026-27 a transport claim covered by one needs the usual records. | Payments made on or after 1 October 2026 | Tax withheld from award transport payments, not the allowance itself |
| Minimum Wage Increase 2026Award minimums rose 4.75 per cent, and the two lowest classifications in the award system rose by more than that because of a structural adjustment the headline figure hides. | First full pay period on or after 1 July 2026 | Every modern award minimum, and the National Minimum Wage |
| Payday SuperSuperannuation is now paid with each pay rather than up to a quarter later. The 12 per cent rate did not change, the deadline and the penalties did. | 1 July 2026 | When super is paid, not how much |
| Childcare and Pharmacy Award RisesTwo awards changed twice within two days, once from the gender undervaluation priority awards review and once from the wage review. A rate quoted without which of the two it is will be wrong. | First full pay period on or after 30 June 2026, then again on or after 1 July 2026 | Children’s Services Award and Pharmacy Award rates |
| High Income Threshold 2026-27The high income threshold and the contractor high income threshold both rose to $190,100, and the unfair dismissal compensation cap to $95,050. | 1 July 2026 | Where award coverage stops, and the unfair dismissal cap |
| Penalty Rates Protected by LawA new principle in the Fair Work Act requires the Commission to ensure award penalty and overtime rates are not reduced, and not substituted for terms that leave an employee worse off. | 30 August 2025 | What the Commission may do to award penalty and overtime terms |
What the review changed that we publish no figures for.
The Annual Wage Review page also lists changes that sit outside anything this site holds verified data for. They are the Fair Work Ombudsman’s figures, not ours, so they are attributed rather than restated, and there is no page here claiming to be the authority on them. Parental Leave Pay, which the same page says rose to 130 days for a child born or adopted from 1 July 2026, is not on this list because the Parental Leave Pay Calculator publishes it from Services Australia and the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010.
Unpaid flexible parental leave
Increasing to up to 130 days for a child born or placed for adoption on or after 1 July 2026.
National Training Wage
Trainee wage increases take effect on the same date as award minimum wage increases.
Each is stated as it appears on the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Annual Wage Review 2026 page, which gave its own last updated date as 2026-07-01 when it was retrieved on 2026-09-11.
Why a start date is part of the rate.
The rule
A wage review outcome applies from the first full pay period starting on or after the operative date, not from the date itself. A pay period already running on 1 July finishes on the old rates.
The Ombudsman’s own worked example
On a weekly cycle running Monday to Sunday, 1 July 2026 fell on a Wednesday, so the new rates started on Monday 6 July 2026. On a cycle that started that Wednesday, they applied from 1 July 2026 itself.
This is why every rate page on this site prints the pay period the figure takes effect from rather than a financial year label. The live search results for award rates routinely carry figures from three different financial years at once, and an undated rate is how that happens.
Where these changes land on this site.
A change is only useful once you can see the figure it produced. The rate tables the 2026 review moved are here.
- Award Pay Rates
Modern award minimum pay rates by industry, how classification levels and pay points work, and how casual loading and penalty rates change what you earn.
- Pay Rates by Occupation
What each Australian occupation is paid under its modern award, with the minimum hourly rate, the casual rate and take-home pay after tax.
- Casual Loading
Casual loading is 25 per cent in every award we publish. What differs is whether the award prints the casual rate or leaves it to be derived.
- Methodology
Every rate this site uses, where it came from, when it was retrieved, and what the calculator deliberately leaves out.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Changes tracked
- 12
- Earliest start date
- 30 August 2025
- Latest start date
- 28 December 2026
- Pages retrieved
- 11 September 2026
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Minimum wages increase from 1 July 2026The page gave its own last updated date as 2026-07-01. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates: Fair Work Act changesThe page gave its own last updated date as 2025-10-02. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
This site is not affiliated with the Fair Work Ombudsman, the Fair Work Commission or the ATO. It publishes their figures with the date attached and links back to them. How each rate is sourced and checked is set out on the Methodology page.
Pay Rate News questions, answered.
What workplace law changes started in Australia in 2026?
Six, each with its own start date. Minimum award wages rose 4.75 per cent and the National Minimum Wage became $1,004.90 a week from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026. Payday super started on 1 July 2026, requiring employers to pay super at the same time as wages. The Children’s Services and Pharmacy awards changed on 30 June 2026 and again on 1 July 2026. The high income threshold rose to $190,100 and the unfair dismissal compensation cap to $95,050 from 1 July 2026. Separately, from 30 August 2025 a new principle in the Fair Work Act protects award penalty and overtime rates. And from payments made on or after 1 October 2026, tax is withheld from allowances that were award transport payments. Each one has its own page here with the government source that announced it. A seventh set, for home care disability workers, some 18 to 20 year olds and grant-funded childcare services, starts from 1 December 2026 and is set out on Pay Changes from 1 December 2026.
Which award pay rates changed in 2026?
All of them. The Annual Wage Review 2026 lifted minimum award wages by 4.75 per cent across the modern award system, so no award was left out. Three changed a second time on a separate date from the gender undervaluation priority awards review: the Children’s Services Award and the Pharmacy Award, and the Health Services Award for health professional employees from the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2026. The rate you need is the one for your classification on your award page, dated to the pay period it takes effect from.
What does "first full pay period on or after 1 July" actually mean?
It means the increase does not begin mid pay cycle. If a pay period is already running on 1 July, the old rates finish that period and the new rates start with the next one. The Fair Work Ombudsman works it through with a weekly Monday to Sunday cycle: because 1 July 2026 fell on a Wednesday, the new rates started on Monday 6 July 2026. A pay period that happened to start on Wednesday 1 July 2026 got the new rates that day.
How is this page different from reading the Fair Work website?
The government pages announce a change. This site holds the classification-level rate tables that the change produced, read from each award’s own text, so a change can be traced to the figure on the payslip. Where a change moved something we hold no verified data for, it is listed here as the Fair Work Ombudsman’s own figure with a link, rather than restated as fact.
See what the 2026 increase left you with.
Enter your new hourly or annual figure to see take-home pay after income tax and the Medicare levy, with super shown separately.
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