Public Service Salaries in Australia 2026: APS, Queensland and Victoria

How classification pay works in each public service

All three public services pay by classification: your job is assessed at a level (APS 6, AO5, VPS 4), and the level carries a pay range made of steps. You start at the bottom of the range unless your experience justifies a higher step, and you move up one step a year until you reach the top. Moving to a higher level needs a promotion, a reclassification or a higher-duties placement.

The mechanics differ. In the Commonwealth, every agency has its own enterprise agreement and its own range for each APS level, so the same classification pays different amounts in different agencies. Queensland has one set of AO, PO and TO pay points for most departments, but what is actually paid now comes from the state award rather than the expired Core Agreement. Victoria has one agreement for all VPS departments, with grades split into value ranges and progression tied to an annual performance review.

APS pay fragmentation: why two APS 6s earn different salaries

The APS figures on this page are APS-wide thresholds, the floor that every agency's range must meet or exceed, not what a particular agency pays. For APS 6 the threshold range is $99,734–$111,701. Services Australia, the largest APS employer, pays $99,734–$113,242, and Treasury's APS 6 range runs to $127,521, $15,820 above the threshold maximum. Some EL 1 ranges reach about $157,000.

The thresholds were introduced in the 2024 round to narrow these gaps. Agencies whose minimums sat below a threshold had to lift them, and anyone paid below the new minimum was moved up to it. Before you compare an APS offer with a state job, check the agency agreement for its actual range.

2026 APS bargaining and the March 2027 pay rise

Agency agreements nominally expire on 28 February 2027, and the next APS-wide round of bargaining began in July 2026 under the Public Sector Workplace Relations Policy 2026. The Commonwealth's pay offer is on the agenda for the 13 October 2026 bargaining meeting, and agencies cannot then agree to more than that offer. The CPSU is claiming 5% a year or CPI, whichever is higher (15% over three years). At 5%, the APS 6 minimum would go from $99,734 to about $104,721. No rate for March 2027 is set until the offer is accepted.

Queensland: award rates now beat the Core Agreement

The State Government Entities Certified Agreement 2023 (the Core Agreement) gave 4%, 4% and 3% and nominally expired on 30 June 2026. Since then the State Wage Case has lifted award rates by 3.5% (September 2025) and 4.75% (September 2026), and because the agreement guarantees no less than the award, the award rate is what is paid at every pay point. AO5.1 is $3,956.60 a fortnight in the agreement but $4,205.00 under the award from 1 September 2026.

A replacement agreement has not been settled. The government offered at least 8.5% over the agreement, up to 10.5% with a CPI uplift, with a first rise of 3.5%. Together Queensland rejected it on 31 July 2026 and the offer lapsed. Under the wages policy the first rise now starts from the first day of the month in which all unions agree in principle, so back pay to 1 July 2026 has been lost.

Victoria: fixed 3% rises and an annual mobility payment

VPS salaries rise 3% on 1 May each year to 2027 under the 2024 agreement, so the May 2027 rates are already known (VPS 4.1.1 goes to $103,921). On top of salary, every VPS employee gets a mobility payment each 1 July of 1.25% of the top of their value range, for example $1,431 at VPS 4 in July 2026. It is paid as ordinary time earnings, so super is paid on it too.

Employer super: the gap the salary tables do not show

Employer super differs by more than three percentage points. On the same $100,000 salary:

Salary packaging and salary sacrifice for public servants

Unlike public hospitals and charities, Commonwealth, Queensland and Victorian government departments are not FBT-exempt, so there is no tax-free cap for rent, mortgage or bills. Packaging (through RemServ or Smartsalary in Queensland) is mainly useful for extra super and novated car leases. Salary sacrifice into super is taxed at 15% in the fund instead of your marginal rate; try the salary sacrifice calculator for the saving and the salary packaging calculator for a novated lease or other benefits.

SES and executive pay

Senior Executive Service pay is not in enterprise agreements. In the APS it is set person by person under section 24(1) determinations. The APSC's 2024 remuneration survey put median base salary at $244,086 for SES Band 1 and $307,112 for Band 2, about $6,268 and $7,549 a fortnight after tax. Queensland's equivalent sits above AO8 in the Senior Officer and SES stream. For Defence pay, see the ADF pay scales page.