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Australian Capital Territory Assistant in Nursing Pay 2025–26

Assistant in nursing is the entry classification in ACT public health — often a foot in the door while studying.

Enrolled Nurse Registered Nurse Clinical Nurse (senior clinical grades)Nurse Management (NUM / Director of Nursing)

★ Get paid while you study nursing

You don't always need a separate qualification — once you've completed about a year of a Bachelor of Nursing (or core clinical subjects and a placement) you can usually work as an assistant in nursing, earning and building clinical hours while you finish your degree. Diploma (enrolled-nursing) students can too.

Pay scale

Base rates, in force from 4 December 2025 — before penalties, allowances and overtime. Entry/each step shown (4 December 2025).

Step	Weekly	Hourly	Annualised
Assistant in Nursing Pay Point 1	$1,251.07	$32.92	$65,279
Assistant in Nursing Pay Point 2	$1,289.40	$33.93	$67,279

How to become an assistant in nursing

Certificate III in Health Services Assistance (Acute Care)

The HLT33115 Certificate III (acute-care pathway) is the standard qualification to work as an assistant in nursing — it can even be started in high school.

Nursing degree student (about a year in)

Undergraduate nursing students who have completed one or more years of a Bachelor of Nursing can usually work as an AIN; some start earlier if prior study or experience is recognised.

Enrolled-nursing (Diploma) student

Students partway through a Diploma of Nursing can also be employed as an AIN — earning while they qualify.

Ways to earn more

The entry scale runs $1,251.07–$1,289.40/wk.
The real lever is qualifying — as an enrolled nurse (Diploma) or a registered nurse (degree).

Where it leads: enrolled nurse vs registered nurse

From here, the two routes into nursing practice are the enrolled-nurse (Diploma) and registered-nurse (degree) pathways — a real trade-off:

Enrolled Nurse — Diploma of Nursing (~18–24 months, TAFE)

No university degree — shorter and cheaper training
Start earning as a nurse sooner
Can later bridge to registered nurse
Lower pay ceiling — the EN scale tops out well below the RN scale
Narrower scope of practice (you work under an RN)
Less progression — no clinical-nurse, nurse-practitioner or management track

Registered Nurse — Bachelor of Nursing (3 years, university)

Far higher ceiling and much more progression — clinical nurse, consultant, nurse practitioner, management/Director of Nursing
Broader, more autonomous scope
Postgraduate study keeps paying off (qualification allowances and higher grades)
Three-year university degree — longer and more expensive
More study before you start earning as a nurse

Allowances you can claim

On top of base pay — the allowances most relevant to this role.

Uniform allowance$517.27/yr (from 04/12/25)

Paid where the head of service requires you to wear a uniform. NOT paid if the ACTPS provides the uniform. Most recent in-force rate is $517.27 per annum (column dated…

Laundry allowance$15.65/fortnight (from 04/12/25)

Paid where you are required to wear AND launder a uniform. Importantly, it is ALSO payable if you are NOT required to wear a uniform but perform clinical duties…

Salary packaging~$11,660/yr tax-free

As a public-hospital employee you can package about $9,010 of everyday expenses plus ~$2,650 of meal entertainment FBT-free, plus a novated car lease — and it doesn't reduce any penalty or allowance.

Leave, study & the full conditions

Leave and study support (annual, parental, long-service, study leave, the career-break scheme), the overtime, minimum-break and on-call rules, and the complete allowance list apply across all Australian Capital Territory nurse classifications — see the full Australian Capital Territory nurse pay & conditions guide.

Pay figures are drawn from the ACT Public Sector Nursing and Midwifery Enterprise Agreement 2023-2026. Confirm your exact classification, step and allowances against the current instrument and your payslip.