Queensland
Paramedic pay — current classifications, rates, penalties & allowances
Roles & Wages
| Role | Pay Point | Sept 2024 | Sept 2025 | Sept 2026 | Sept 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1 — Paramedic / Patient Transport / EMD Level 1 Base annual salary for the shared Level 1 scale: Ambulance Attendant (increment 1), Certificate IV Officer and Patient Transport Officer (to increment 4), Paramedic and Patient Transport Paramedic (to increment 5), Paramedic Advanced Skills (to increments 6-7) and Emergency Medical Dispatchers, who progress across the scale. Increment 8 covers higher duties and is the EMD console-handover reference rate. | Increment 1 | $66,110 | $68,093 | $69,789 | $71,537 |
| Increment 2 | $70,519 | $72,633 | $74,459 | $76,311 | |
| Increment 3 | $74,902 | $77,146 | $79,077 | $81,059 | |
| Increment 4 | $79,338 | $81,712 | $83,747 | $85,834 | |
| Increment 5 | $81,529 | $83,981 | $86,069 | $88,208 | |
| Increment 6 | $83,721 | $86,225 | $88,390 | $90,608 | |
| Increment 7 | $85,912 | $88,495 | $90,712 | $92,982 | |
| Increment 8 | $88,104 | $90,739 | $93,008 | $95,330 | |
Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP) — Band 1 Intern Level 2 Base annual salary during the ACP internship/induction program for degree-qualified paramedics (Level 2, Band 1). | Increment 1 | $81,894 | $84,347 | $86,460 | $88,625 |
| Increment 2 | $83,721 | $86,225 | $88,390 | $90,608 | |
Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP) — Band 2 Qualified Level 2 Base annual salary for ACPs independently authorised to practise at the ACP2 clinical skill level (Level 2, Band 2); increments 6-7 are the senior ACP rates. | Increment 1 | $88,104 | $90,739 | $93,008 | $95,330 |
| Increment 2 | $90,321 | $93,034 | $95,356 | $97,730 | |
| Increment 3 | $92,513 | $95,278 | $97,652 | $100,105 | |
| Increment 4 | $94,782 | $97,626 | $100,078 | $102,583 | |
| Increment 5 | $96,922 | $99,818 | $102,322 | $104,879 | |
| Increment 6 (Senior) | $99,139 | $102,113 | $104,670 | $107,279 | |
| Increment 7 (Senior) | $101,331 | $104,383 | $106,992 | $109,679 | |
Extended Role Paramedic (ACP) — Band 1 Level 3 Base annual salary for ACP-qualified extended roles such as Community Paramedic, Special Operations and LARU (Level 3, Band 1), requiring a post-graduate qualification specific to the extended-role area. | Increment 1 | $103,574 | $106,679 | $109,340 | $112,080 |
| Increment 2 | $105,766 | $108,949 | $111,662 | $114,454 | |
| Increment 3 | $107,984 | $111,219 | $114,010 | $116,854 | |
Critical Care Paramedic (CCP) — Band 2 Level 3 Base annual salary for qualified Critical Care Paramedics (Level 3, Band 2) holding a Graduate Diploma in Intensive Care Paramedical Practice or equivalent; increments 4-5 are the senior CCP rates. | Increment 1 | $107,984 | $111,219 | $114,010 | $116,854 |
| Increment 2 | $111,036 | $114,375 | $117,245 | $120,167 | |
| Increment 3 | $114,088 | $117,506 | $120,454 | $123,454 | |
| Increment 4 (Senior) | $117,193 | $120,715 | $123,741 | $126,846 | |
| Increment 5 (Senior) | $120,272 | $123,872 | $126,977 | $130,159 | |
Extended Role Paramedic (CCP) — Band 3 Level 3 Base annual salary for CCP-qualified extended roles such as Flight, High Acuity Response Unit and retrieval Critical Care Paramedics (Level 3, Band 3). | Increment 1 | $121,159 | $124,785 | $127,916 | $131,125 |
| Increment 2 | $124,263 | $127,994 | $131,203 | $134,490 | |
| Increment 3 | $127,316 | $131,125 | $134,412 | $137,778 | |
Supervisor — Band 1 Level 4 Base annual salary for Level 4, Band 1 supervisors. ACP-qualified appointees start at increment 1 and cap at increment 3; increment 4 is the restricted Senior Increment for CCPs who maintain and use their CCP scope of practice. | Increment 1 | $113,671 | $117,089 | $120,011 | $123,011 |
| Increment 2 | $115,863 | $119,332 | $122,307 | $125,359 | |
| Increment 3 | $118,106 | $121,654 | $124,707 | $127,837 | |
| Increment 4 (Senior) | $120,272 | $123,872 | $126,977 | $130,159 | |
Supervisor / Operations Centre Supervisor — Band 2 Level 4 Base annual salary for Level 4, Band 2 supervisors, including Operations Centre Supervisors (increments 1-3). CCP-qualified appointees start at increment 2; increment 4 is the CCP-qualified Senior Increment (cl 18.3). | Increment 1 | $118,967 | $122,541 | $125,594 | $128,725 |
| Increment 2 | $121,159 | $124,785 | $127,916 | $131,125 | |
| Increment 3 | $123,428 | $127,133 | $130,316 | $133,577 | |
| Increment 4 (Senior) | $125,594 | $129,351 | $132,586 | $135,899 | |
Level 5 — Band 1 Level 5 Base annual salary for senior Level 5, Band 1 positions; approved Level 5 roles working ordinary hours flexibly over a 24-hour, 7-day span attract the 23% Flexibility Allowance. | Increment 1 | $125,124 | $128,881 | $132,116 | $135,429 |
| Increment 2 | $127,316 | $131,125 | $134,412 | $137,778 | |
| Increment 3 | $129,559 | $133,447 | $136,786 | $140,204 | |
Level 5 — Band 2 Level 5 Base annual salary for senior Level 5, Band 2 positions; approved Level 5 roles working ordinary hours flexibly over a 24-hour, 7-day span attract the 23% Flexibility Allowance. | Increment 1 | $131,333 | $135,273 | $138,665 | $142,134 |
| Increment 2 | $133,499 | $137,517 | $140,960 | $144,482 | |
| Increment 3 | $135,743 | $139,812 | $143,308 | $146,883 | |
Operational Management — Band 1 Level 6 Base annual salary for the most senior operational tier (Level 6, Band 1). Level 6 employees are excluded from most allowance and penalty clauses and generally take time off in lieu instead of paid overtime. | Increment 1 | $140,987 | $145,213 | $148,839 | $152,570 |
| Increment 2 | $143,204 | $147,509 | $151,187 | $154,970 | |
| Increment 3 | $146,726 | $151,135 | $154,918 | $158,779 | |
| Increment 4 | $150,483 | $154,996 | $158,884 | $162,849 | |
Operational Management — Band 2 Level 6 Base annual salary for the most senior operational tier (Level 6, Band 2). Officers in Charge at this level may elect the 20% Unlimited Hours Loading instead of on-call and call-back arrangements. | Increment 1 | $154,344 | $158,962 | $162,928 | $166,998 |
| Increment 2 | $158,127 | $162,875 | $166,945 | $171,120 | |
| Increment 3 | $161,023 | $165,850 | $169,998 | $174,250 | |
| Increment 4 | $163,893 | $168,798 | $173,024 | $177,355 |
Allowances
| Allowance | Unit | Sept 2025 | Sept 2026 | Sept 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Professional Development Allowance — Category A, Remote (cl 44.7) Eligible registered paramedics working in remote locations as listed in Schedule 6. | Per annum | $3,496.85 | $3,584.27 | $3,673.88 |
Professional Development Allowance — Category B, Regional (cl 44.7) Eligible registered paramedics working in regional locations as listed in Schedule 6. | Per annum | $2,795.42 | $2,865.31 | $2,936.94 |
Professional Development Allowance — Category C, Metro/Major (cl 44.7) Eligible registered paramedics working in metropolitan and major locations as listed in Schedule 6. | Per annum | $2,095.02 | $2,147.40 | $2,201.09 |
Overnight Meal Allowance — Breakfast (cl 26.4.4(b)) When required to be absent overnight from home for relief work or other approved travel. Adjusted under the parent award rather than agreement wage tranches. | Per meal | $22.60 | — | — |
Overnight Meal Allowance — Lunch (cl 26.4.4(b)) When required to be absent overnight from home for relief work or other approved travel. | Per meal | $24.95 | — | — |
Overnight Meal Allowance — Dinner (cl 26.4.4(b)) When required to be absent overnight from home for relief work or other approved travel. | Per meal | $33.99 | — | — |
Overnight Meal Allowance — Dinner, no adequate kitchen (cl 26.4.4(c)) Higher dinner rate where adequate kitchen facilities are not available during an overnight absence. | Per meal | $47.62 | — | — |
Overnight Incidental Allowance (cl 26.4.4(d)) Out-of-pocket incidental expenses for each overnight absence from home. | Per occasion | $16.97 | — | — |
Industrial Sites — Industry Allowance (Sch 4 cl 3) Specified duties (e.g. eye tests, hearing testing) at specified industrial sites (Clermont, Goonyella, Peak Downs, Saraji, Norwich Park); also paid on paid leave for permanent employees. | Per shift | $45.82 | $46.97 | $48.14 |
Industrial Sites — Mine Skills Allowance (Sch 4 cl 4) Industrial Paramedics working on a specified mine site, in recognition of specific skills. Increases with the State Wage Case rather than agreement wage tranches. | Per shift | $33.78 | — | — |
Industrial Sites — On-site Allowance (Sch 4 cl 5) Industrial Paramedics, in recognition of the harsh physical environment and lack of usual facilities. Increases with the State Wage Case rather than agreement wage tranches. | Per shift | $66.71 | — | — |
Penalty Rates
Premium on the ordinary base hourly rate for each hour of a shift finishing after 6pm and at or before midnight (after 7pm for 12-hour shifts). Not paid on shifts that attract weekend, public-holiday or overtime rates.
Premium on the ordinary base hourly rate for each hour of a shift finishing after midnight and at or before 8am. Not paid on shifts that attract weekend, public-holiday or overtime rates.
All ordinary time worked between midnight Friday and midnight Saturday.
All ordinary time worked between midnight Saturday and midnight Sunday.
Minimum 4 hours, for employees not receiving the additional annual-leave entitlement.
Minimum 4 hours, for employees receiving the additional annual-leave entitlement; Easter Sunday is paid at 250% for these employees (cl 51.5).
Time-and-a-half in addition to a full day's wage for the public holiday.
All work performed between 6pm and midnight on 24 December.
The usual Saturday/Sunday rate plus a premium of 50% of an ordinary day's wage.
All work outside normal rostered hours for shift workers and employees performing regular on-call (Levels 1-5). Recall to duty carries a 2-hour minimum (cl 29.1.2).
Time-and-a-half for the first 3 hours of overtime on any day, then double time. All overtime on Saturdays, Sundays or rostered days off is flat double time (cl 29.1.1(d)); public-holiday overtime follows the parent award.
A 10-consecutive-hour break is required between shifts; if directed to work without it, double time applies until released, plus an additional 50% of ordinary time when the breach occurs on a Sunday.
Per hour of on-call duty, minimum 10 hours per on-call period, Levels 1-5 only; no more than 10 on-call days in any continuous two-week period. On Category 2/3 rosters this is substituted by the Aggregated Allowance.
Minimum 2 hours when called out while on-call, counted from acknowledging the call to returning home, and paid even if the job is cancelled before attendance.
Minimum 1 hour for Level 4-5 employees performing approved duties (e.g. coordination or welfare calls) without leaving home.
A 24-hour combination of duty and on-call on a rostered day off: minimum 10 hours at the overtime rate, remaining hours at 30% of the hourly base rate, with call-outs paid at the overtime rate.
Flat roster loading (23%, 26.5%, 28%, 29.5% or 36.5% per Schedule 5) for employees regularly rostered on weekends whose penalties reach at least 15% of the fortnightly base rate. Paid in place of weekend penalties, afternoon/night shift penalties and, on Category 2/3 rosters, the on-call allowance; the 36.5% tier applies only to Category 2/3 stations.
Elected by an Officer in Charge required to perform unlimited hours, instead of on-call and call-back. Covers the first 4 call-outs or 8 hours of overtime plus casualty-room cases each fortnight, and is paid on sick, annual and long service leave.
Approved Level 4 and 5 positions working ordinary hours flexibly over a 24-hour, 7-day span. Not payable alongside the Aggregated Allowance, the Unlimited Hours Loading or actual penalty payments.
From 1 March 2026: for each full ordinary hour of a night shift actually worked (minimum 4 hours of the rostered shift), all employees including casuals and part-timers receive 5% of the ordinary base hourly rate of Level 2 Band 2 Increment 5 — a fixed reference rate, not the employee's own rate. Standalone: it stacks with the Aggregated Allowance, penalties and Flexibility Allowance, but is not paid on overtime, on-call, call-back or leave.
Per fortnight of ordinary hours worked at a Category 2 or 3 station: 5% of the ordinary base fortnightly rate of Level 2 Band 2 Increment 5. Pro-rata for part-time employees and for casuals relieving at such stations; not paid on overtime, on-call, call-back or unpaid leave.
Suitably qualified and authorised Isolated Practice Area Paramedics at an IPAP-approved location, calculated on the base rate of an Advanced Care Paramedic.
Emergency Medical Dispatchers and Operations Centre Supervisors who elect to start 15 minutes early for a non-overlapping console handover are paid 15 minutes of ordinary time at a fixed reference rate (EMDs: Level 1 Increment 8; OCS/Senior OCS: Level 4 Band 2 Increment 3), irrespective of their own classification. Not payable alongside overtime for the same period.
Casual employees receive a 25% loading on the ordinary rate for the class of work, plus overtime, penalty rates and public-holiday payment. The loading is not paid on top of Sunday or public-holiday double-time rates.
Notes
- •These figures are the annual base salary in Australian dollars from Schedule 1 of the agreement, which was certified on 27 November 2025 with wage rates backdated to 1 September 2025. The schedule delivers a 3% rise from 1 September 2025, then 2.5% from 1 September 2026 and 2.5% from 1 September 2027.
- •The 1 September 2024 rates are the final rates under the preceding Queensland Ambulance Service Certified Agreement 2022 (terminated on 27 November 2025) and remain the applicable rates for shifts worked before 1 September 2025.
- •The 2026 and 2027 rates are a guaranteed floor: if Brisbane March-quarter CPI outpaces the scheduled rise, a CPI Uplift Adjustment (capped at 0.5% for the 2026 rise and 1% for each later rise) lifts the next tranche, and QAS must publish updated salary schedules if that occurs.
- •Ordinary full-time hours are 38 per week. Part-time employees are paid 1/38th of the weekly rate per hour with pro-rata entitlements, and casual employees receive a 25% loading (shown under Penalties).
- •All operational roles share one Level/Band/Increment pay scale, with different roles capping at different increments — for example, on the Level 1 scale, Certificate IV Officers and Patient Transport Officers reach increment 4, Paramedics increment 5 and Paramedic Advanced Skills increments 6-7. Advanced Care Paramedics sit at Level 2, Critical Care and extended-role paramedics at Level 3, supervisors at Level 4 and senior/operational-management roles at Levels 5-6.
- •Employees on an Aggregated Allowance roster receive a flat 23-36.5% loading in place of weekend and shift penalties (and, on Category 2/3 rosters, the on-call allowance) — see Penalties.
- •Level 6 (Operational Management) employees are excluded from most allowance and penalty clauses and are generally not entitled to paid overtime, taking time off in lieu instead.
- •Annual leave loading is 17.5% on up to five weeks of annual leave per year (13.67% where the entitlement is six weeks and two days); shift workers receive the higher of roster-inclusive pay or the 17.5%-loaded penalty-exclusive rate for the leave period.
- •Meal, incidental and some industrial-site allowances adjust under the parent award or State Wage Case rather than the agreement tranches, so only their 1 September 2025 amounts are listed. A further industry residential allowance of $75.60 applies to permanent industrial-site employees living at a mine site in a remote area, tied to the QAS remote-area incentive policy.
- •The agreement covers operational Queensland Ambulance Service employees — paramedics, patient transport staff, emergency medical dispatchers and operations-centre staff — and was made between the State of Queensland (QAS) and the United Workers Union.
- •Source: Queensland Ambulance Service Certified Agreement 2025 (CB/2025/140), Queensland Industrial Relations Commission — https://www.qirc.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-12/2025_cb140.pdf
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