What: QLD Health workers issue invoices for unpaid work
When: 1:30pm, Wednesday 4th March 2026
Where: Forecourt- Parliament House, Brisbane
Who: Radiographers, Sonographers, Nuclear Medicine Scientists, Dental Prosthetists, Pharmacists, Clinical Assistants, Radiographer/Sonographers and Radiation Therapists.
Crucial health workers in Queensland’s public health system have today issued invoices to the Department of Health for over $200 million in unpaid work they are doing over and above their required duties.
The invoices cover a series of unpaid duties that key medical professionals have been covering, but they have not been paid for, including: embedded clinical education for registrars, ED doctors and medical students; transporting patients; and, governance of clinical trials and research.
Workers have been protesting since October last year after the department’s decision to strip attraction and retention bonuses that have seen some workers salaries cut by 25% and others facing similar cuts.
This savage pay cut has seen nearly 20% of Queensland’s already scarce Nuclear Medicine Scientists resign their positions and move interstate or into the private sector, where wages are significantly higher. Townsville’s Nuclear Medicine team has been cut in half due to resignations. Radiation Therapists are also facing similar cuts and seeking alternative work.
Opposition leader Steven Miles will table the nearly 2,000 invoices today in Parliament on behalf of the health workers.
The United Workers Union Health Coordinator Fiona Scalon said the workers were issuing the invoices because negotiations with the Crisafulli Government and the Health Minister Tim Nicholls had stalled.
“These workers have given Queenslanders more than $200 million in unpaid hours and duties, yet the Crisafulli Government still thinks they deserve the rough end of the pineapple,” Ms Scalon said.
“Remember, these are the workers who are identifying and treating cancer in our public hospitals.
“These workers are frustrated because they know the huge benefits they bring to Queensland and Queenslanders – and today’s action shows that – but Mr Nicholls is ignoring their calls to stop wage cuts of 25 per cent or more.
“Since October last year these vital health workers have been trying to tell Mr Nicholls that what the Department of Health is proposing is unfair and unjust.
“What other worker in Australia, in this cost of living crisis, has had or is facing a 25% reduction to their take-home pay?”