'Double pay, fake job': Traffic controllers in Australia lift the lid on their salaries - with some earning hundred of thousands a year to 'bludge' their way to financial freedom

Sky News AU

21-07-2025

Traffic controllers in Australia have revealed their extraordinary salaries for turning a stop sign, with some raking in as much as $200,000 a year to "bludge" their way to a comfortable living.
According to Jobs and Skills Australia, 16,100 lollipop men and women are employed to ensure "the safety of emergency response teams, construction workers and the general public" by directing road and pedestrian traffic around construction, accidents or road disruptions.
However, real-life traffic controllers say this is just a glossed-up job description.
One worker from Logan, Brisbane, said the role requires little more than a two-day course followed by very easy work.
"I make about $35 an hour. If anyone wants a sort of bludge job where you don't have to do much, traffic control is definitely the way to go," the man told Getahead app in a recent TikTok video.
"You literally get paid to stand here. There are definitely worse gigs out there.
"I'm a real estate agent by trade, so I just do this to pay bills."
The young man said traffic controllers usually pick up shifts the night before, with the option to decline, adding: "It's basically freelance" work.
A female traffic controller from Brisbane in a separate video said she earns "between $140,000 to $200,000 a year".
The lollipop lady said her earnings are boosted by "really good" penalty rates and loadings, deserved due to the "high risk" nature of the role.
She said she faces the challenge of the "ignorance of the public's awareness of traffic control" with another worker in the comments backing this up, saying they've even come close to death on the job.
"I've been a traffic controller for two years while studying, and even on 12- to 16-hour days, the most I've made in a financial year is $88,000. The abuse and almost getting hit multiple times a day," they said.
The risk isn't universal, according to Irish expat Ruth Birch who was stationed at a quiet footpath where she got "paid to be bored".
"All I have to do is let people know that they can walk on this footpath through the little barriers," Ruth said of the "double pay fake job".
"It's supposed to be 35 degrees today, and I am going to be standing there getting a tan."
Another young female traffic controller, Nyah, took to TikTok in her high-vis gear to reveal that she earns $2,700 per week for 72 hours.
Nevertheless, people in the comments said this isn't a lot of money to earn for working 12-hour shifts six days a week.
"I would think you'd be getting paid more for 12-hour shifts," one bemused person wrote.
"$33 average an hour seems a little low, they don't go time and a half after 10hours?"
The discrepancy in earnings from each worker arises as salaries vary depending on whether the company is a CFMEU or a local one.
The trade union pays some traffic controllers on Victoria's Big Build project $206,000 a year, based on a six-day, 56-hour work week.
Private company salaries can range from $55,000 to $75,000 annually, with some companies offering hourly rates from $30, according to SEEK.
The union salary of $49 per hour doubles to $98 per hour for 16 hours of double time, excluding a travel allowance of $315, a meal allowance of $ 186 for overtime, and a site allowance of $280 for mega projects.
Former Victorian-Tasmanian division secretary John Setka last year told 3AW he finds it "insulting that traffic controllers get such a bad rap."
"I mean, their job is so dangerous. There has been a number of them killed," he said.
"The risk of serious injury. They're protecting the public. They're protecting the construction workers.
"I mean, when it's raining torrential rain, and there's a concrete pour on they can't just say, 'Well, I'm gonna get up and I'm not standing there'.
"They've got to stay there right till the end."