30 June 2025

The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) CEO Cindy Smith and Chair, Victorian Public Mental Health, Social Work Leadership Network, Kirsty Jungwirth, met with The Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) on 27 June 2025 to express concerns with the most recent offer made by the Victorian Hospitals’ Industrial Association (VHIA) as part of the public mental health enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA). 

Ms Smith raised that the recent offer is inadequate and impacts on wage equality, conditions, career structures and staffing levels of our members across public mental health services with HACSU State Secretary, Paul Heally, and HACSU Assistant State Secretary, Rebecca Sprekos.

The most recent offer made by the VHIA continues to entrench pay and recognition disparities between nurses and allied health professionals. The AASW concerns about the offer include:

• Inadequate pay increase – the current offer to allied health professionals including social workers is a 3% per annum pay rise over four years. This fails to provide parity with the nursing workforce. Workers performing the same role who have the same level of qualifications and experience should be paid equally.

• Supervision requirements – the offer fails to address social worker supervision requirements. Social workers require supervision that is discipline specific. This is in line with AASW practice standards which require that social workers are supervised by qualified social workers.

The recent Victorian Royal Commission into Mental Health and the subsequent recommendations and reforms identifies that the Mental Health System needs social workers that are qualified and skilled to support some of the most vulnerable and at-risk individuals in our community. The complexity and volume of presentations requiring clinical mental health interventions continues to escalate, and staff are increasingly placed at greater risk.

The failure by government to address the lack of parity with nursing risks triggering an exodus of qualified social workers from the mental health sector.

The AASW will continue strong advocacy for our members, emphasising this critical opportunity for the Victorian Government to properly value social workers’ irreplaceable contributions to mental health care.

For enquiries, please contact:
Matt Loads, Communications Lead
Email: [email protected]

Phone: 0403 011 174

About the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)

The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) is Australia’s professional body for social workers. As well as representing and supporting social workers in their essential work, we set the benchmarks for professional education and practice in social work.