Raise Wages, Starve Clinics: The Quiet Crisis Behind Fair Work Reforms
The Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) latest move on the gender pay gap has been lauded by the media and politicians alike.
At first glance, it’s the kind of progress that deserves applause: addressing the deeply embedded wage inequities across highly feminised industries like physiotherapy and allied health.
But let’s not be fooled by polished headlines and election-year theatrics.
Beneath the surface, these wage reforms expose a harsh reality: government policy continues to undermine business owners while pretending to champion equality.
The Gender Problem Health Can’t Shake
The health and support sectors — highly skilled, profoundly human industries — have long been powered by women.
Not just at the frontline but in business ownership too.
Many of these women have built clinics from scratch, driven by resilience, compassion, and expertise.
They deserve recognition.
Yet the structure they've been forced to operate in has historically punished them.
From contracting agreements prior to 2009, to mediocre awards owing to, in the words of former FWC vice president, Graeme Watson - "historical inertia".
To now, in 2025 with Systemic Shortcomings within NDIS rates and a health economy in need of Medicare Reform.
Let's not forget extortionate commercial rent to go with burdensome compliance costs.
And now, sweeping wage reforms that threaten the survival of their businesses altogether.
Raising Wages — Without Raising Revenue
Under the proposed FWC changes, a new graduate physiotherapist's base pay would jump almost 30%, pushing annual salaries close to $90,000 including super.
Sounds progressive, right?
It would be — if the commonwealth funding that underpins the health sector had moved an inch in the past six years.
It hasn’t.
NDIS, DVA, Medicare — the very billing structures that private clinics rely on — have remained stagnant.
No new inflows.
Minimal adjustments for inflation, none in the NDIS case.
No recognition for the complex, skilled work allied health professionals deliver daily.
So what does this mean for practice owners?
Costs rise, but revenue stays flat.
Without dramatic shifts in pricing models or service delivery, many clinics face an impossible squeeze.
Follow the Money not the Fair Work Commission
Curiously, while female dominated allied health practices are left to suffocate under funding freezes, other sectors receive an injection of cash.
General Practice — a 50:50 male-to-female sector — has seen Medicare subsidies lifted just in time for the election.
Meanwhile, Canberra GP clinics score million-dollar bailouts to keep the lights on.
You don’t need a PhD in economics to spot the pattern: funding flows where traditional ownership structures are strongest.
It’s a damning contradiction for a government positioning itself as a champion of gender equity.
The Third Door: Structural Inequality at Work
The sad irony?
By pushing up wages without lifting the pricing floor, the reforms the government touts as ‘fair’ could result in more female-led businesses shutting their doors.
- Raise wages ✅
- Cut NDIS funding ❌
- Refuse to update Medicare or NDIS rates ❌
It’s a shell game. One that’s already hurting the very entrepreneurs it pretends to uplift.
If groceries now cost more than a Medicare-funded EPC consult, how can clinics be expected to survive — let alone thrive?
The answer is simple: they can’t under the current model.
Where to Next for Ethical Clinic Owners?
At Culture of One, we believe in resilience.
We believe in individuality.
And we believe that innovation, not blind compliance, is the future.
That’s why we’ve been preparing our community for these seismic changes for over two years.
If you're a practice owner reading this, now is the time to:
- Focus on building a direct-to-patient (cash-paying) ecosystem.
- Restructure contracts to reflect a fair but sustainable wage framework.
- Price your services independently of government handouts.
We’ve mapped a path forward inside our Circle Platform and via our private coaching programs, including our industry leading Profits course.
Don't wait for politicians or bureaucrats to value your work.
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