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 1 December 2025 — before penalties, allowances and overtime. Entry/each step shown (1 December 2025).
Step
Weekly
Hourly
Annualised
Grade 1, Year 1
$1,282.81
$33.76
$66,935
Grade 1, Year 2
$1,322.36
$34.80
$68,999
Grade 1, Year 3
$1,362.02
$35.84
$71,068
Grade 1, Year 4
$1,401.69
$36.89
$73,138
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 $1,282.81–$1,401.69/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$500/yr
If you provide direct care but are required NOT to wear a uniform (the award names mental health and child & family health nurses as examples), you get a flat uniform…
District (isolation) allowance — Category R remote$4,942.00/yr (with dependants) / $2,470.00/yr…
If permanently stationed in a Category R remote location — including the Bass Strait Islands, Maria Island and Bruny Island — you can be paid a district allowance to…
Kilometreage — district / special vehicle add-onsCat R: $30.49/mo + $12.21 per 1600 km; Cat B:…
On top of the per-km rate, extra allowances if you're stationed in a district allowance area (Category R or B) or use a special vehicle. Includes utility/4WD/special…
District (isolation) allowance — Category B$2,470.00/yr (with dependants) / $1,235.00/yr…
Category B covers locations under the Commonwealth Taxation Zone B description (an 'isolated area', which the award says includes King Island, Flinders Island, Cape…
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 Tasmania nurse classifications — see the full Tasmania nurse pay & conditions guide.