Health and Community Services Union (HACSU)

31/07/2026

This week, over a thousand Victorian disability support workers voted to take protected industrial action at Scope. 💪

Scope is asking the people who deliver essential disability support to accept less. Less security, fewer protections, and lower conditions.

After over 18 months of bargaining, it's time to stand up and fight back! ✊🧡💜

Click here to learn more: https://buff.ly/60DXsVn

29/07/2026

Nurses have been speaking out against the increase in occupational violence facing healthcare workers - as reported this week in an article by 9News. "Nurses are resilient, but that’s not really the point. The point is what is management and the health service doing about it?" said Mental Health Nurse Ravi.

“Violence and injury are often treated as an unavoidable part of caring for others, but they are not. They are workplace risks that can and must be prevented,” said HSU National Secretary, Dustin Halse.

🔗 Click here to read the full article: https://buff.ly/6jCrcEh

28/07/2026

No one should face financial hardship just to complete their training.

Thanks to a long campaign by HACSU members and the HSU, soon 10 more allied health professions won’t have to.

From June next year, Occupational Therapy students and 9 other disciplines will join Social Workers, Nurses, and Midwives in being eligible for the government’s Commonwealth Prac Payment during their mandatory work placements.

Thank you to all our members who campaigned hard for this change – we’re now one step closer to ending placement poverty!

23/07/2026

🎉 HSU WIN!

HSU members have helped secure paid placements for 10 allied health professions, a major victory for students who have long faced financial hardship while completing mandatory placements.

The Federal Government has announced that student paramedics and those studying physiotherapy, occupational therapy, clinical psychology, pharmacy, podiatry, speech pathology, audiology, radiography and rehabilitation therapies will become eligible for the Commonwealth Prac Payment of around $338 per week from 1 June 2027.

This expansion will help more students complete their qualifications and enter the health, aged care and disability workforces.

This is a win for all our allied health branches and a testament to the power of members standing together and campaigning for change.

But the fight isn't over. HSU will continue campaigning until all allied health students undertaking mandatory placements receive the financial support they need.

📸 HSU leaders, allied health members and students from across Australia who have helped drive the campaign for paid placements.

22/07/2026

After 18 months of bargaining, Scope still won't budge on non-contact hours, minimum shift lengths and fair rostering.

Scope members are voting this week on taking protected industrial action. Let’s vote YES and show Scope we won’t back down! ✊️

22/07/2026

20/07/2026

Sign our HACSU for Peace petition calling for AHPRA to reverse their decision on adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism ✊❤️

Many healthcare workers object to this definition of antisemitism being used for healthcare regulation as it risks conflating legitimate criticism of the State of Israel and its government with antisemitism, creating a chilling effect on lawful advocacy by healthcare workers.

Professional registration must never become a mechanism for political silence.

Click the link below to sign and learn more.

As healthcare workers, we emphatically reject antisemitism, anti-Palestinian racism, Islamaphobia, racism and all forms of discrimination and hatred. Every healthcare worker, patient, carer and community member deserve safety, dignity and equal access to treatment, care and support - Jewish people,....

17/07/2026

HACSU members are fighting back in Bendigo! 💪

Yesterday, disability support workers at Possability walked off the job to demand better pay and conditions. Between penny pinching providers and a State Government that won't listen, disability workers and the people they care for are feeling the squeeze.

It's time they both step up and support quality care in Victoria!

Jacinta Allan, do you see us now? 🦺 💜 🧡

15/07/2026

Our staunch members have been fighting hard for better deals in Disability! Check out these recent pics from some house visits and coffee catch ups. 💜🧡

Join the fight, sign up to be a member at buff.ly/vhaJtxL ✊️

13/07/2026

The Health and Community Services Union and HACSU for Peace urge the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) to reverse the decision to implement the IHRA definition of antisemitism as the core reference tool in healthcare regulation.

Our objection is not to efforts to combat antisemitism. Antisemitism is real, harmful, and must be confronted wherever it occurs. Our concern is that the IHRA definition blurs the line between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of the State of Israel, its government, its policies, and the deliberate bombing of health and caring facilities in Palestine and Lebanon.

Professional registration must never become a mechanism for political silence.

Click here for our full statement + noticeboard poster: https://buff.ly/GLEM4Ce