Offer Made: The Departments had a choice. They chose the status quo.
The Department has put an offer on the table in enterprise bargaining. Delegates have gone through it, line by line, and want members to see exactly what it means.
Watch delegates break down the offer:
Why we're taking action
An offer doesn't get better on its own. It gets better because members make it clear they're not accepting the status quo.
Protected Industrial Action isn't separate from what happens at the bargaining table — it's what changes what happens at the bargaining table. Every every signature, every sign on a wall tells the Department something the log of claims alone can't: that members are organised, paying attention, and prepared to keep going.
Stage One is already underway. The more visible it is — the more workplaces taking part, the louder the message — the harder it becomes for the Department to treat these issues as something to be reviewed later rather than fixed now.
Here's what the Department has actually offered — and why delegates believe it's not enough:
For years, members have raised serious concerns through surveys, consultative committees, and working groups about workloads, staffing, workplace safety, administrative support, pay parity, and the resources needed to do the job properly.
Look closely at this offer, and most of those concerns are met with commitments to review, communicate or educate existing entitlements — not commitments to fix the underlying problems. Most proposals sit outside the certified agreement entirely. That matters. Union members have asked for clear, enforceable commitments. What's on the table is a "trust us" approach that issues may be considered later.
What's missing from this offer is action and investment to address the issues union members face each day.
Child Safety Workloads: a step backwards, not forwards
Child Safety workers have spent years building a measurable approach to workload management. The offer doesn't build on that work; it removes it.
In this offer the current Child Safety Workload Management Policy and Manual gets scrapped, replaced by a new framework a working group will develop from scratch, sometime over the life of the agreement.
That's not progress. That's setting the workload fight back years, starting again from zero, with no guarantee of what we end up with — and no clear limit on the number and complexity of cases workers may be required to hold in the meantime.
Worst yet, there is no commitment to resources; we know too well that a tool without resources does not lower your workloads right now, nor does it drive better outcomes for children or families.
In relation to your claim for more admin and casework support staff, the offer proposes yet another review — due in 18 months. Union Members have already identified what's needed. Previous reviews and functional analysis have already examined these issues. The commitment does not introduce any funding for these positions, and does not lock the department into delivering these positions post the review.
Youth Justice: pay parity still missing
Pay parity has been one of the clearest issues raised by Youth Justice workers. It isn't addressed in this offer, despite the Department acknowledging that there are attraction and retention issues.
The proposed workload approach relies on a generic Queensland Government tool that already applies today. It doesn't reflect the complexity of Youth Justice service delivery, and it doesn't provide any commitment to properly resource the work.
Infrastructure and buildings fit for purpose
For Child Safety, the offer continues the existing Building Working Group, a mechanism already in place. For Youth Justice, the offer is limited to new intranet resources promoting existing ways to raise concerns. In both cases, telling workers about how to report a problem doesn't repair an unsafe workplace or deliver the buildings that are fit for purpose that staff need.
Cultural safety
Members also asked for greater transparency on cultural safety — including reporting incidents through the Agency Consultative Committee, a joint union forum with departmental executives. The offer instead keeps this internal, reported to People and Culture and Human Resources.
Several other cultural claims members raised aren't addressed anywhere in the offer:
- Acknowledgment of Country — no commitment to include this in the agreement.
- Zero tolerance for racism, discrimination and lateral violence — no clause addressing this.
- Cultural Loading Allowance, paid cultural leave and paid cultural supervision — none of these are mentioned in the offer.
What's actually in the offer:
You can see the full offer letter here.
Here's an outline of what it covers:
These commitments are written into the certified agreement itself. Once the agreement is certified, they're legally binding — the Department has to deliver on them, and there's a formal mechanism to hold them to it if they don't.
Coverage and duration
- No change to who's covered by the agreement
- Three-year term, backdated to the date of certification, expiring 31 July 2029
Wages
- 3.5% in year one (1 August 2026): 3% guaranteed increase plus a 0.5% CPI Uplift Adjustment (CUA)
- 2.5% guaranteed in year two (2027) and 2.5% guaranteed in year three (2028), each with a possible further CUA top-up (up to 1% extra) if CPI outstrips the guaranteed rate
- Minimum of 8.5% over the life of the agreement; up to 10.5% if CPI keeps triggering the CUA
- Award rates continue to apply if they exceed agreement rates
Workload management
- Both departments will stand up working groups within 3 months of certification to build new workload management frameworks
- Child Safety: the current Workload Management Policy and Manual — including the existing workload tool — is replaced, with a new framework due sometime before the agreement expires in 2029
- Youth Justice: the new framework will reference the Queensland Government's general workload management guide
Cultural safety
- Youth Justice will develop a Cultural Safety Policy within 12 months, in consultation with the DYJVS First Nations Council
Child Safety
- Exploration of a frontline relief model for planned leave, commencing within 6 months
Youth Justice
- Review of the Regional and Remote Incentive Scheme, commencing within 12 months
Other
No further claims clause retainedThese commitments sit outside the certified agreement. They're not binding; there's no formal mechanism to enforce them if the Department doesn't follow through. They can be changed, delayed or dropped without breaching the agreement. This is where most of what's "new" in this offer actually sits.
Workload management
- The underlying principles guiding the new framework
Meal breaks, accrued time and overtime
- Communication and policy updates to make existing meal break entitlements clearer — not new entitlements
- A new accrued time projection tool for Child Safety
- Guidance on when overtime can be paid instead of TOIL for eligible staff, published within 6 months
Physical resources and psychological safety
- Child Safety: continuation of the existing Building Working Group
- Youth Justice: new intranet resources promoting existing ways to raise concerns
- Both: existing iLearn modules on psychosocial hazards; Youth Justice developing a three-year wellbeing strategy
Cultural safety
- Cultural safety incidents reported centrally to HR/People and Culture, not through the Agency Consultative Committee as members asked
Child Safety
- A review of administrative and para-professional roles (Case Support Workers, Paralegal Officers), due within 18 months
Youth Justice
- Education campaign on existing career development entitlements (SARAS, EOIs, internal vacancies), within 6 months
- Continued rollout of the Integrum incident reporting system in Youth Detention Centres
- Access to existing DFV and safety/security training blocks for Client Services staff
Safe Workloads and Staffing
- A Staffing Baseline developed in consultation with union members
- Vacancies advertised within 1 week of becoming vacant
Leave, ATL and Hours of Work
- Annual leave entitlements increased to 6 weeks for all staff
- 10 days of paid cultural leave for all workers who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
- All staff covered by the agreement entitled to paid overtime
- No loss or forfeiture of Accrued Time Leave, with the option to have ATL paid out annually if not taken
Workplace Culture and Environment
- Fit for purpose physical resources and infrastructure for all offices — safe, functional, mould-free buildings, up-to-date IT, accessible fleet vehicles, neurodivergent adjustments, and the administrative/operational infrastructure to support service delivery
- A Physical Resourcing Baseline so every office meets the same standard
- Cultural safety incidents externally investigated and centrally reported to the RCC and ACC
- Zero tolerance for racism, discrimination and lateral violence embedded as a commitment in the agreement
- Paid cultural supervision as a standard entitlement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers
- Face-to-face psychological safety training, built and agreed with Together, for all line supervisors, with regular reporting to the ACC
- The agreement to begin with a formal Acknowledgement of Country
Pay Parity and Classifications
- Pay parity achieved across all equivalent roles, with Youth Justice positions aligned to equivalent Child Safety classifications and pay scales
- Removal of pay scale caps and progression blocks
- Career pathways embedded across all roles, not reliant on vacancies or manager discretion
- A full work value review of all positions during the life of the agreement
- A dedicated Remote and Regional Attraction and Retention Package, including housing support
- The cultural load of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers formally recognised through a Cultural Loading Allowance, and a review of ISSO and CPA classifications
- Expansion of Retention Allowances and Continuance Allowances to all roles
- Night shift loading of 20%
A choice
At the end of the day, the Department had a choice in this offer. It could genuinely invest in the staff, systems and resourcing that Child Safety and Youth Justice actually need. Or it could stick with the status quo.
This offer is the status quo. More reviews of problems we've already proven. More education about entitlements we already have. In Child Safety, it's not even the status quo — it's a step backwards, with a workload tool we've already built stripped out from under us.
What to do next
Read the offer. Compare it against the claims members developed. Talk to your delegate. Ask whether it delivers meaningful solutions to the issues you experience every day.
We want to hear from you. Email your feedback on the offer to your.union@together.org.au.
Authorised Alex Scott, 43 Peel St South Brisbane 4101
