Queensland Assistant in Nursing Pay 2025–26
Assistant in nursing is Nurse Grade 1 in Queensland Health — often held by nursing students earning while they study.
Pay scale
Base rates, in force from 1 April 2026 — before penalties, allowances and overtime. Nurse Grade 1, in force from 1 April 2026.
| Step | Weekly | Hourly | Annualised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse Grade 1 Band 1 — paypoint 1 | $1,331.95 | $35.05 | $69,499 |
| paypoint 2 | $1,359.45 | $35.77 | $70,934 |
| paypoint 3 | $1,377.35 | $36.25 | $71,868 |
| paypoint 4 | $1,408.45 | $37.06 | $73,491 |
| paypoint 5 | $1,440.96 | $37.92 | $75,187 |
| paypoint 6 | $1,458.40 | $38.38 | $76,097 |
How to become an assistant in nursing
Ways to earn more
- The AIN scale runs $1,332–$1,458/wk.
- The real lever is qualifying — as an enrolled nurse or a registered nurse.
- Shift penalties and salary packaging apply to AINs too.
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:
- 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
- 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.
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 Queensland nurse classifications — see the full Queensland nurse pay & conditions guide.
Pay figures are drawn from the Nurses and Midwives (Queensland Health) Certified Agreement (EB12) 2025. Confirm your exact classification, step and allowances against the current instrument and your payslip.