Regional Queensland
Regional recruitment specialist for Queensland employers, from Cairns to Toowoomba and Mount Isa. See how hard each region is to hire in, and how we help.
Critical care and emergency nurse recruitment for regional employers
Hire Australia is a regional recruitment specialist. We help regional hospitals and health services hire critical care and emergency nurses: intensive care and high dependency nurses, emergency department nurses, triage nurses and the clinical nurses and educators who lead them. Shifts, skill mix and the experience your unit needs are part of the search from the first conversation.
Critical care and emergency nurse hiring at a glance
Critical care and emergency nursing is a large, relatively young specialty, and it is rated in national shortage.
- people worked as critical care and emergency nurses in 2021
- 42,100
- Registered Nurses (Critical Care and Emergency), ANZSCO 254415, the latest count for this occupation.1
- national rating for Registered Nurse (Critical Care and Emergency) in 2026
- Shortage
- ANZSCO 2022 occupation 254415. In shortage means rated S (shortage) or R (regional shortage).2
- median age of critical care and emergency nurses in 2021
- 36
- A younger workforce than nurse practitioners (48) or perioperative nurses (41); 52% worked full-time hours.1
- a week award minimum for a clinical nurse
- $1,504.40
- Registered nurse level 2, pay point 1, Nurses Award 2020, from 1 July 2026, where the award covers the role.3
What does a critical care or emergency nurse do?
Critical care nurses look after seriously ill patients in intensive care, high dependency and coronary care units. Emergency nurses assess and treat people as they arrive, from triage at the front door to resuscitation, and keep patients moving to wards, theatres or transfer.
Triage is a role in its own right. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care publishes the Emergency Triage Education Kit for nurses preparing for the emergency department triage role, built around the Australasian Triage Scale.5
Which licences, tickets and certifications do critical care and emergency nurses need?
Critical care and emergency nurses hold the same national registration as other nurses. Units then look for postgraduate study, life support courses and triage education, so name the ones your role needs.
Registration, professional standards and courses relevant to critical care and emergency nursing, from each issuer's page opened on 1 November 2026. The ACCCN standard is a professional benchmark, not a law.
| Requirement or credential | What it is | Who sets it |
|---|---|---|
| Nurse registration | General registration as a registered nurse on the national register. There is no separate registration for critical care or emergency nursing6 | Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, through Ahpra |
| Postgraduate intensive care qualification | ACCCN's workforce standard: at least 50% of registered nurses giving direct care in an ICU should hold a recognised postgraduate critical care qualification, at AQF level 8 or above; 75% is optimal7 | Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN), 2016 standard |
| Advanced Life Support Level 1 | A one-day course on recognising, assessing and managing the deteriorating patient in the immediate period of crisis8 | Australian Resuscitation Council |
| Advanced Life Support Level 2 | A two-day course on advanced skills in managing the deteriorating patient and cardiac arrest, for clinicians expected to apply them in their duties9 | Australian Resuscitation Council |
| Triage education | The Emergency Triage Education Kit, second edition, focused on applying the Australasian Triage Scale5 | Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care |
What does a critical care or emergency nurse earn?
The award has no separate rate for these specialties. Where the Nurses Award 2020 covers the role, a registered nurse at level 1, pay point 1 earns at least $1,219.50 a week from 1 July 2026. At level 2, the clinical nurse level, the minimum is $1,504.40 a week, and the award says a level 2 nurse holds any other qualification required for their practice setting.3
Shift loadings apply to rostered shifts from Monday to Friday: 12.5% of the minimum hourly rate for an afternoon shift and 15% for a night shift. Rostered ordinary hours on a Saturday are paid at 150% and on a Sunday at 175%. The shift loadings do not apply to registered nurses at levels 4 and 5.3 Public hospitals pay under their state's own instrument instead, such as Victoria's public sector agreement running to 2028.10
No earnings figure exists for these specialties alone. They are counted in the Registered Nurses group (ANZSCO 2544), whose national median full-time earnings were $2,192 a week in May 2025.1 That median covers all registered nurses, so we talk with you about the rate, shift mix and housing that will compete for an experienced critical care or emergency nurse.
Where are critical care and emergency nurses in demand?
There is no job-ad series for these specialties alone, so the table shows ads for all registered nurses by area. Regional ads grew faster than ads in the major cities in the year to September 2026.4 Registered Nurse (Critical Care and Emergency) is rated in shortage nationally.2
In 2021, 28.4% of critical care and emergency nurses worked in New South Wales, 25.4% in Victoria and 22.4% in Queensland, with 1.3% in the Northern Territory.1
Online job ads a month for all registered nurses (ANZSCO 2544), three-month average to September 2026 and a year earlier, by area. Northern Australia is a separate breakdown that overlaps the other two rows.4
| Area | Registered nurse job ads a month | A year earlier | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regional areas | 3,1334 | 2,609 | +20% |
| Major cities | 3,964 | 3,923 | +1% |
| Northern Australia | 481 | 456 | +5% |
What to tell us about your critical care or emergency role
Start with the unit: intensive care, high dependency, coronary care, an emergency department, or an urgent care centre, with its size, its acuity and whether it takes paediatric patients. Say whether you can support a nurse new to the specialty, or need someone who can take charge of a shift.
Then the practical details: the shift pattern and night duty, whether the role covers both the emergency department and a high dependency unit, retrieval or transfer duties, and the courses you require, such as advanced life support or triage education.
How we help you hire a critical care or emergency nurse
You make the hiring decision and employ the person directly. We handle the search and the organising in between.
Shifts, relocation and regional units
We start with nurses already in your region and then widen the search to people planning a move, including city nurses looking for a regional unit.
Tell us early about housing, relocation costs, the shift pattern and night duty, study support for a postgraduate qualification, and whether part-time hours are possible. We raise them in the first conversation.
If the right person needs a visa or sponsorship, our sister business Australian Immigration Agency can advise.
Looking for a critical care or emergency nursing role in the regions?
Register with Hire Australia and tell us the units you have worked in, your postgraduate study, the courses you hold and where you would like to work. Nurses wanting to move into critical care or emergency are welcome to register too.
Talk to us about your next critical care or emergency nurse hire
Tell us the unit, its acuity, the shifts and the location.
Employers pay nothing until the successful candidate has started and stayed two months. Candidates never pay for recruitment.
A FEW PRACTICAL QUESTIONS
Good to know.
Does an ICU nurse need a postgraduate qualification?
It is not a registration requirement. The Australian College of Critical Care Nurses' workforce standard says at least 50% of registered nurses giving direct care in an intensive care unit should hold a recognised postgraduate critical care qualification, with 75% optimal.7 Hire Australia builds the qualification you need into the brief and asks candidates about their study.
What shift loadings apply to emergency and ICU nurses?
Where the Nurses Award 2020 applies, rostered shifts from Monday to Friday carry a loading of 12.5% of the minimum hourly rate for afternoon shifts and 15% for night shifts, and rostered weekend ordinary hours are paid at 150% on Saturday and 175% on Sunday. These shift loadings exclude registered nurse levels 4 and 5.3 Public hospitals use state instruments. Hire Australia talks through your shift mix early.
Are critical care and emergency nurses in shortage?
Yes. Registered Nurse (Critical Care and Emergency) is rated in shortage nationally on the 2026 list.2 42,100 people worked in the specialty in 2021, with a median age of 36.1 Hire Australia plans these searches around your roster and start date, and looks beyond your region when needed.
Can a regional emergency department hire a nurse new to emergency?
Yes, if you can support them. Courses such as Advanced Life Support Level 1, a one-day course,8 and triage education5 help a registered nurse step into emergency work. Tell Hire Australia what support you can give, because it widens the pool of registered nurses we can talk with.
What does it cost to use Hire Australia?
Employers pay nothing until the successful candidate has started and stayed two months. Candidates never pay for recruitment. You employ the person directly, and we agree the terms with you in writing before the search begins. The fee terms are the same whether Hire Australia recruits an emergency nurse, an ICU clinical nurse or a nurse educator.
Does Hire Australia supply labour hire or temporary staff?
No. Hire Australia recruits people you employ directly, in permanent roles. We don’t supply labour hire or temps, and candidates never work on our payroll. We search for and screen people for your vacancy, introduce the ones who fit, and you make the offer and employ them. That keeps the working relationship between you and your new employee from day one.
Sources (10)
- Jobs and Skills Australia, Occupation data download, ANZSCO occupation profiles. Data: 2021 Census of Population and Housing (place of usual residence); the latest data for 6-digit occupations. Accessed 1 November 2026. Back to text ↑
- Jobs and Skills Australia, 2026 Occupation Shortage List (6-digit ANZSCO 2022 and OSCA 2024 sheets). National ratings from the ANZSCO 2022 sheet, matching the ANZSCO job-ad and earnings groups beside them. In shortage means rated S (shortage) or R (regional shortage). Accessed 1 November 2026. Back to text ↑
- Fair Work Commission, Nurses Award 2020 [MA000034], consolidated award text; the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide restating these rates is effective 1 August 2026. Data: Rates from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, clause 15.1; aged care enrolled and registered nurse rates from 1 August 2026, clause 15.3. Accessed 1 November 2026. Back to text ↑
- Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index, ANZSCO 4-digit occupations by JSA remoteness. Data: Three-month average to September 2026; counts online job ads, not jobs filled. Accessed 1 November 2026. Back to text ↑
- Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, Emergency Triage Education Kit (ETEK), second edition. Accessed 1 November 2026. Back to text ↑
- Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, Fact sheet: Registration as a nurse or a midwife. Accessed 1 November 2026. Back to text ↑
- Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN), Workforce Standards for Intensive Care Nursing (2016), Standard 3. Accessed 1 November 2026. Back to text ↑
- Australian Resuscitation Council, Advanced Life Support Level 1. Accessed 1 November 2026. Back to text ↑
- Australian Resuscitation Council, Advanced Life Support Level 2. Accessed 1 November 2026. Back to text ↑
- The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Nurses and Midwives salary circular 870 (Victorian public sector single interest employer agreement 2024-2028), 3 September 2024. Accessed 1 November 2026. Back to text ↑