Queensland budget’s record health spending meaningless without wages boost, unions say

The emergency department at Robina hospital on the Gold Coast. Unions say the Queensland 2022 budget surplus should be channelled into fair pay increase for public sector workers. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

Record health funding promised in the Queensland budget is meaningless without a wages policy that attracts essential workers and keeps pace with cost of living increases, unions say.

Michael Clifford, the general secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, said the 2022 budget surplus should be channelled into a fair pay increase for public sector workers after years of stagnant wages.