Let's talk about salaries $ - The money talk
Salaries within the Veterinary industry in Australia.
Talking about people’s salaries or your salary is impolite here in Australia. So its actually quite a touchy subject for many.
Whilst we are all overseas vets looking to work in Australia, we can actually have that conversation.
years ago, just when I was starting my journey I became obsessed and I was doing my own research into Veterinary salaries within Australia.
Let’s dive into it!
I am going to break this down by talking about Vet nursing salaries Veterinarian salaries.
Vet nursing salaries
20-38 Australian dollars per hour
You will get paid based on your experience, the highest paid Vet nurse position I have ever heard of was 38 $ an hour.
Unfortunately, Vet nurses do not make much money in Australia and a lot of them end up working in management or n emergency doing night shifts to earn more money.
If you are an overseas Veterinarian do not expect to be paid the highest rate!!!! 38 $/hr is only achieved after years of experience.
Veterinarian salaries
I am a GP veterinarian, so what I am going to tell you is the salary range for a GP (general practitioner) Veterinarian.
70.000 - 180.000 per YEAR
This salary range is massive, I know, it depends on experience and this is on a full time basis.
When an overseas veterinarian sits the first part of the AVE and obtains temporary registration, the salary is usually in the lower END. WHY?
Because the Veterinary practice needs to supervise you and as a non fully registered veterinarian there are things that you are technically not allowed to do like dispensing S8.
Some overseas vets like Antonella prefer to do a internship once they have their limited registration and this is an alternative too.
She did an internship in equine medicine, let us know if you would like her to tell her experience in our blog:
My personal thoughts:
Money is extremely important but so is health and work life balance
I WOULD NEVER TRADE MY SLEEP for better money and penalty rates, I refuse to work as an emergency veterinarian or emergency vet nurse for the same reason.
I used to work OVERTIME, not get paid overtime and not say anything about it. Work life balance is EXTREMILY important in Vet Med. We all start somewhere and we all need to do overtime BUT with years of working as a vet you will start appreciating work - life balance, so strive for that.
Ongoing professional development to achieve a better SALARY: become a better Veterinarian, improve your knowledge and skills, become indispensable in that Veterinary team, do not stay as an average Veterinarian. Always find ways of improving yourself.