Latest News July 2026

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Navigating the July 1 Award and Superannuation Changes

Happy financial new year! July 1 is officially here, and while you’re busy managing clinical schedules, surgical cases, and patient care, there are a few major compliance shifts landing on your desk today that require your immediate attention.

To keep your practice compliant and financially healthy, here is a quick breakdown of what has changed and the exact steps you need to take.

1. The Animal Care Award Has Risen by 4.75%

Following the Fair Work Commission’s Annual Wage Review, all modern award minimum wages have increased by 4.75% effective from 1 July. This directly impacts the Animal Care and Veterinary Services Award.

• Action Required: Review your payroll software immediately. You must ensure all veterinary nurses, animal attendants, receptionists, and award-reliant practice staff are updated to the new pay rates.
  
  
• A Quick Reminder: Even if you pay your team above-award rates, you still need to audit your payroll to ensure your market salaries comfortably clear the new, higher baseline.

2. Payday Super is Officially Live

The biggest shakeup to Australian payroll in years takes effect this month. The era of hoarding your super obligations until the end of the quarter is officially over.

The New Rule: You are now required to pay your employees’ superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions at the same time you run your regular payroll.

Super payments must be received by your employees’ funds within 7 business days of their payday. If you pay your team weekly or fortnightly, your super processing needs to match that exact rhythm. If you haven’t already, check in with your bookkeeper or payroll software provider to ensure your automated systems are synced up for this change.

3. Balancing the Books: The 2.4% Price Adjustment

The higher award rates means that your operational overheads are taking a hit. To absorb these rising labor costs without absorbing a massive hit to your profit margins, your practice’s billing needs a slight tune-up.

• The Strategy: To comfortably offset the 4.75% wage hike, we recommend increasing your prices by around half that amount—roughly 2.4%.
  
  
• Why it Works: Because labor represents only a portion of your overall business overhead, a modest 2.4% bump across your general fees balances the scales perfectly. It protects your clinic’s bottom line without delivering a massive shock to your loyal pet-parent clientele.

Note that this change in prices would simply offset wage increases. Additional price increases would be required to cover inflation which is at approximately 4% currently

Are you clinic’s SMS going to the unverified pile?

Your veterinary practice relies on text messages to send appointment reminders, post-op updates, or vaccination recalls. You need to look at your phone right now.

Effective 1 July 2026, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has officially launched the mandatory SMS Sender ID Register. This is a massive federal push to stop scammers from impersonating trusted brands, and it completely changes how businesses send text messages in Australia.

If your clinic sends text messages under a business name rather than a standard mobile number, here is exactly what this means for your client communication and your bottom line.

What is a “Branded Sender ID”?

When your practice sends a text message via your Practice Management Software (PMS) or an SMS gateway, does it arrive on the client’s phone showing a mobile number (e.g., 0412 345 678), or does it display your clinic’s name at the top (e.g., STRUDEL’S VETCLINIC )?

That alphanumeric name is your Sender ID.

Under the new anti-scam laws, any business using a branded Sender ID must have it formally registered and verified against their Australian Business Number (ABN).

The Cost of Doing Nothing: The “Unverified” Penalty Box

If you haven’t registered your clinic’s name with the ACMA register yet, your client communication is about to take a massive hit.

The New Reality: Starting 1 July, text messages sent from unregistered branded Sender IDs have their headers replaced with the word “Unverified”.

Worse yet, telecommunications providers (like Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone) will group all “Unverified” messages from all unregistered businesses into a single, generic message thread on the user’s phone. Your crucial post-op check-in or booking confirmation will sit in the exact same inbox folder as random delivery scams and phishing texts. Clients will be actively warned to treat these messages with suspicion, meaning your open rates will plummet.

How to Fix It: Your Action Plan

Thankfully, getting compliant is straightforward, but you need to act immediately to avoid disruption to your morning clinic run.

• Step 1: Update your ABR Details Before you can register, the ACMA will verify your identity using the Australian Business Register (ABR). Make sure your authorized public officer contact details and email address on the ABR are completely up to date.
• Step 2: Contact your SMS or PMS ProviderYou do not register directly on an ACMA portal yourself; registration is managed through participating telecommunications and message providers. Reach out to your SMS gateway provider or your Practice Management Software support team (e.g., ezyVet, Covetrus, etc.) to submit your Sender ID registration application.
• Step 3: Audit Multiple NamesIf you operate a multi-location group or use different sender headers for marketing vs. clinical reminders (e.g., COASTVET and COASTPETS), you must register each individual variation you use.

What if you just use a mobile number?

If your practice software sends text messages from a dedicated virtual mobile number (starting with 04), you do not need to do anything. The new registry rules only apply to alphanumeric branded text headers.

Protect Your Client Trust

Missed appointments cost veterinary clinics thousands of dollars a year in lost revenue, and unread post-op instructions present a genuine clinical risk. Ensuring your texts remain trusted, branded, and delivered safely to your clients’ main inboxes is well worth the five minutes it takes to check your compliance.

Dog Tales! 

HELLO HUMAN FRIENDS! Strudel here-your resident, vertically challenged, horizontally gifted Chief Enthusiatic Officer. You might notice I am barking a little louder than usual today, and that is because I have A LOT to tell you.

First things first: MY PET PARENTS ARE FINALLY BACK FROM THE USA! They were gone for approximately 74 dog years (my calculations say two weeks, but it felt much longer). They brought me back a giant plush hot dog and some premium American treats, but frankly, I’m just glad they’re back to rub my belly on demand.

While they were busy at a wedding in Florida, I was left in charge of the compliance desk. We have some massive changes hitting Australian vet clinics today, so listen up!

1. Don’t Let Your Texts Look Like a Fake Mailman!

If you haven’t registered your business name with the government yet, your messages will show up as “Unverified.” That means your crucial vaccination reminders will get dumped into the exact same spam folder as those shady package delivery scams. 

• Strudel’s Orders: Call your Practice Management Software provider today and get your SMS Sender ID registered. Don’t let your texts get ghosted!

2. More Treats for the Vet Staff (and a Tiny Menu Tweak)

The humans at the Fair Work Commission have spoken: the Animal Care Award rate has officially gone up by 4.75%.

Personally, I think vet nurses and receptionists should be paid in infinite treats because they give the absolute best ear scratches, but rules are rules! You need to update your payroll today. Plus, you now have to pay their superannuation at the exact same time as payroll – no more hoarding the super treats until the end of the quarter!

To cover these extra costs without hurting your clinic’s belly (the bottom line), you need to increase your prices by around 2.4%. It’s just a tiny extra crumb for the pet parents to pay, and it keeps your business running beautifully.

Alright, I hear a delivery truck outside, which means I must go defend the office perimeter at maximum volume.

Check your payroll, register your text headers, and remember to give your favorite clinic dog an extra liver treat today!

Until next month, Strudel

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