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The same licence is worth $70,000 more in one part of Australia than another. Here is where.
SEEK, refreshed 1 September 2026:
Pilbara pays roughly $70,000 more than the bottom of the Brisbane band. For the same ARCtick licence, which works in every state with no retraining.
1. Western Australia is a different market entirely. Perth at $132,000 is not a regional loading - it is the metro rate, and it sits $22,000 above the top of the national band. The WA resources sector competes for refrigeration technicians directly and the whole state's rates reflect it.
2. Regional Queensland beats metro Queensland by a wide margin. Gladstone and Central QLD at $120,000 against Brisbane at $75,000-$95,000. A technician can raise their income substantially without leaving the state.
3. Brisbane is the softest capital-city market in the country for this trade. That is worth knowing whichever side of the table you sit on.
Your licence is one of the most portable credentials in Australia. RAC01 works nationally. There is no state conversion, no notification process, no retraining.
That means the gap in the table above is not theoretical. It is available to you, subject to whether you want the roster and the location that comes with it.
The honest counterweight: Pilbara money comes with a FIFO roster, and rosters end marriages and careers as often as they build houses. Perth at $132,000 is a residential number, not a FIFO one, and that is the more interesting figure on this table for most people.
And the thing to weigh properly: a $132,000 Perth offer against a $90,000 Brisbane one is a $42,000 gap, but it is also a relocation, a different housing market, and distance from whoever you have in Queensland. That is a real decision, not an obvious one.
Every technician you employ can see this table.
That does not mean you have to pay Perth rates. It means an offer at the bottom of the Brisbane band is competing against a visible, licence-transferable $40,000 gap, and your retention depends on something other than money.
The levers that actually work: a vehicle that goes home, predictable and paid after-hours arrangements, named progression - SEEK puts commissioning technicians at $110,000 and service managers at $120,000 - and paid ticket upgrades. None of those close a $40,000 gap on their own. Together they are why most technicians stay.
WA pays the most, regional Queensland pays well above metro Queensland, and Brisbane is the softest capital city in the country for refrigeration. The licence travels, so the gap is real.
HJ Recruitment places permanent HVAC and refrigeration, electrical, plumbing, fire and solar tradespeople across Australia.
Sources- SEEK - Refrigeration Mechanic salary, Australia- SEEK - AC & Refrigeration Technician salary, Brisbane- SEEK - AC & Refrigeration Technician salary, Melbourne
