Anaesthetist Pay

How much do anaesthetists make in Australia in 2025?

Like most lines of work, there is a lot of variability. It depends on the type of work you do, how much of it you do, and where you do it. Let’s break it down by the type of work:

Public

A full-time public anaesthetist will typically earn about $300,000 to $450,000 per year, including on-call. This can be approximated at $75-100,000 annually per day worked weekly (with full-time being 4 days per week + on-calls). The hourly pay for regular in-hours work is around $150-$200 per hour. After-hours on-call work is often remunerated on a fee-for-service model, though some health services use an elevated hourly rate (e.g. 2x base hourly rate), in addition to an on-call retainer. This after-hours work is highly variable but can add another $150-200,000 annually for a full-time FTE public appointment.

Public anaesthetists are entitled to sick leave, annual leave, conference leave, long service leave, public holidays, and superannuation. Most will also receive paid ‘non-clinical time’ (e.g. 1-2 sessions per week) to complete other work-related tasks such as teaching, research, committee work, department/hospital portfolio work, administrations/management, etc.

While specifics vary by state/territory, there are typically additional CME (Continuing Medical Education) allowances that can be used for courses, conferences, and other work-related expenses; and also paid non-clinical time to work on research, teaching, audits, committees, etc.

Private

Pay will vary widely based on billing practices – particularly the type of lists you do and your unit value. At the low end, some will earn similar to public anaesthetists. Most will be closer to $600,000 to $1,000,000 per year, with some exceeding $1m – and rarely over $1.5m. Importantly, this does not (usually) include any leave (e.g. sick leave, annual leave, long service leave) and generally requires payment (e.g. ~4-5% of billings) for billing services or anaesthetic group fees (up to several thousand dollars per month). Some private anaesthetic groups have internal leave arrangements and some billing system fees are as low as 2%.

Billings for one session (half-day) are usually between $2,500 and $5,000, equating to an hourly rate of approximately $500-1,000 per hour. While this will vary greatly depending on the list, this is generally towards the lower end of this range ~$500-$700 per hour. Higher paying outlier lists include fast high turnover cases (e.g. ECT, cataracts, paeds ENT) and cosmetic surgery. Endoscopy lists may fall into this category, however, many are performed in endoscopy centres with “no gap” agreements with health insurers, which removes financial autonomy from anaesthetists and gradually erodes pay as insurance rebates increase below inflation.

It typically takes a year or two (or more) to establish a reasonably full schedule of private lists and most anaesthetists will not have every available working day filled with regular lists. This can provide flexibility for ad hoc lists (including covering colleagues), emergency / on-call work, or life outside of work.

When factoring in all of the differences in pay and benefits between public and private work, an hourly rate of approximately 3x the hourly rate in public will make private work financially worthwhile. There are, of course, other potential advantages and disadvantages to be considered, including travel between hospitals, having predictable regular lists with the same surgeons/proceduralists, the support and facilities available, lunch/tea breaks, etc.

Read more in our page about Anaesthesia Private Practice & RVG Units.

Locum

Locum pay rates vary depending on the location, required work (particularly whether after-hours on-call is included) and urgency. The lowest is $2,000 per day and some will pay up to $3,500 to $4,000 per day. These rates may be negotiable, particularly if filling in at the last minute or for rates at the lower end of the usual range.

See also

• MedRecruit – What is an anesthesiologists salary in Australia
• For comparison with anesthesiologists in the USA, take a look at the Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2022: