Paediatric occupational therapist jobs in Queensland: settings, pay and how overseas OTs get hired

Paediatric OT work in Queensland sits in four main places: NDIS-funded private practice, Children’s Health Queensland, the paediatric and community teams of the other Hospital and Health Services, and a smaller number of education roles. Pay runs from the award minimum of A$1,308.80 a week for a new graduate (from 1 October 2026) to A$83,824–120,740 a year at Queensland Health’s HP3 grade (from 1 September 2026).

I run a multi-site paediatric allied health practice in South East Queensland, and several of our clinicians came to us from overseas.

The four settings, side by side

The NDIS early childhood approach

Many families who see private paediatric OTs are funded through the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme). Its early childhood approach covers:

• children younger than 6 with developmental delay, and
• children younger than 9 with disability (extended to under-9s from 1 July 2023).

Children younger than 6 don’t need a diagnosis to get early support. Early childhood partners connect families to supports.

What the NDIS pays for therapy. The NDIS sets price limits for therapy supports, and they’re reviewed each financial year. I haven’t put a figure here because we couldn’t confirm the 2026–27 limit on an official page. Check the current NDIS pricing arrangements directly. Remember that the price limit is what a practice can bill, not what you’re paid.

Children’s Health Queensland

CHQ is one of Queensland Health’s 16 Hospital and Health Services. It’s statewide, centred on the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, and it recruits paediatric doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and support staff.

For overseas applicants, CHQ says three things on its own pages:

• You don’t need to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident to apply for a temporary role.
• It sometimes sponsors health professionals. The sponsorship mention on its main careers page is in the nursing section, so don’t assume an OT role comes with sponsorship. Ask.
• Pre-employment checks include registration or membership, a Working with Children Check, mandatory vaccinations and a criminal history check, plus at least two references.

We didn’t find a live CHQ OT advert when we checked in October 2026. Adverts open and close through the year.

Public paediatric work outside CHQ

The other 15 Hospital and Health Services also employ OTs, including in paediatric and community roles. Queensland Health’s published OT vacancy count covers all OT roles, not only paediatric ones; it’s in the OT jobs guide. For grades, the HHS map and how applications work, see working for Queensland Health.

Pay: what paediatric OTs earn

The award is the Health Professionals and Support Services Award, which names occupational therapists. It lists OTs at AQF level 7 only, so a master’s degree doesn’t lift your award minimum. Private paediatric practices set their own pay at or above it. Queensland Health describes HP3 as a competent clinician practising routinely on their own and in a team, and HP4 as a high level of knowledge and skills with clinical leadership, or managing a small team.

For the full award table, take-home pay and home-country comparisons, see the OT salary guide.

What your overseas paediatric experience maps to

Here’s what the official sources do and don’t say:

• Registration depends on your qualification, not your setting. The OT Board’s routes turn on where and when you qualified. UK OT qualifications completed 2010–2030 and Irish ones completed 2015–2030 use the comparable regulator route. A list of 30 named programs (14 in Canada, 8 in South Africa, 8 in the USA) uses the recognised qualification route, with an exact match needed on institution, degree title and year. NZ OTs with current OTBNZ registration and a current practising certificate use Trans-Tasman mutual recognition. Everyone else goes through qualification assessment. School-based, early intervention or hospital paediatric experience doesn’t change which route you’re on.
• Orientation and cultural safety training. For portfolio applicants whose qualification is found substantially equivalent, the Board lists a one-on-one orientation with an OT who has held general registration for at least three consecutive years, plus approved cultural safety training (conditions may be placed on your registration if you haven’t done it). Ask the Board whether they apply on your pathway.
• Seniority is decided by the employer. No official table converts a US school-based role or a UK paediatric band into an Australian grade. A public employer grades you against its own role descriptions (HP3, HP4 and up). A private practice decides where you sit on its own scale. For a pay comparison by grade, see how your seniority transfers.
• A Working with Children Check is part of the job. CHQ lists it in its pre-employment checks. Expect paediatric employers to ask for it.

What I’d ask a paediatric employer

These are the three questions I’d put to any paediatric employer, mine included:

1. Which age group and caseload you’ll carry, and how much is NDIS-funded.
2. How many client hours a week they expect, and whether any pay is linked to billings.
3. What supervision and orientation look like in your first months.

Paediatric speech pathologists and physios

• Speech pathologists aren’t registered with Ahpra. Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) assesses overseas-qualified speech pathologists (A$825 through the mutual recognition route, which Canadian S-LPs can’t currently use, or A$2,000 across the four stages of the full assessment), and Queensland Health asks for eligibility for SPA membership. Queensland Health employs speech pathologists at HP3 and senior speech pathologists at HP4. Start at the speech pathology guides.
• Physiotherapists go through the Australian Physiotherapy Council, then register with the Physiotherapy Board (Ahpra). The route depends on where you qualified: Express FLYR (UK, Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong, if you’ve held unrestricted registration in the past five years; A$1,742), FLYR (including US graduates from Texas, Massachusetts or California; A$3,490), APEP (everyone else; A$8,321), or Trans-Tasman recognition for NZ physios with a current practising certificate. Queensland Health advertises physio roles on the same HP grades, for example senior physios at HP4. See the Physiotherapy Council and the pathway check.

Your next step

• OTs: check which OT Board route your qualification is on, and whether you need a visa sponsor or already have work rights.
• Speech pathologists: check whether you’re eligible for SPA’s mutual recognition route or need the full qualification assessment.
• Physios: check which Physiotherapy Council route applies to where you qualified.

The pathway check below asks those questions in a few minutes and tells you which route applies to you, so you know what to do first before you apply for a paediatric role.