Security Guard Pay in Victoria: 2026 Award Rates and Penalties

A licensed security guard in Victoria is paid at least $28.42 an hour under the Security Services Industry Award 2020 — the minimum that applied from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026 — and a casual at that same entry classification is paid $35.53 an hour once the 25 per cent casual loading is added.

Those figures are award floors rather than typical take-home pay: classification level, night work, weekend shifts, public holidays and enterprise agreements all move the final number. This guide sets out the five award classifications and their 2026–27 hourly rates, what penalties add to a weekend or night shift, what Melbourne employers are advertising, and what pushes a guard’s rate up the scale — starting with the qualification behind licensed security work in Victoria, ALIT’s CPP20218 Certificate II in Security Operations.

Which award covers security guards in Victoria

Private security work in Victoria falls under the Security Services Industry Award 2020 [MA000016], a national modern award administered by the Fair Work Ombudsman. It covers security guards and officers, crowd controllers, patrol and mobile response staff, and control-room monitors, whether the employer is a large national provider or a small local operator. Some employers instead pay under an enterprise agreement, which can sit above the award minimum, so the covering instrument matters as much as the base rate — Fair Work’s Find my award tool confirms which one applies to a specific job.

The award only sets pay. To perform licensed security work in Victoria you also need a current security licence issued by Victoria Police’s Licensing and Regulation Division, and holding the licence — not just the training — is what makes you employable in the role. Requirements for licence classes, applications and renewals change from time to time, so confirm current requirements with Victoria Police’s Licensing and Regulation Division before planning around them; ALIT’s guide to getting a security licence in Victoria walks through the steps involved.

Minimum hourly rates from 1 July 2026

The rates below are the award’s adult minimums, read from the Fair Work pay guide effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, when the 2025–26 Annual Wage Review increase took effect. The hourly rate is the minimum weekly rate divided by a 38-hour full-time week, and casual figures are the award’s own published rates including the 25 per cent loading.

Award minimums are reissued each July after the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review, so treat this as the 2026–27 snapshot and check the current Fair Work pay guide before relying on a figure for a payroll decision or a job offer.

Casual pay and the 25 per cent loading

Most entry-level security shifts in Melbourne are offered as casual work. A casual is paid the classification hourly rate plus a 25 per cent loading in place of paid annual leave, notice and redundancy pay, which is why Level 1 starts at $35.53 rather than $28.42. Importantly, the loading is not the end of it: the award’s casual penalty percentages already include that 25 points, and penalties are calculated on the base rate before the loading is applied, so a casual working nights and weekends is paid well above the headline casual rate.

What nights, weekends and public holidays add

Penalties are where a security roster’s pay is really decided. Under the award’s penalty rates clause, ordinary hours are paid at the following percentages of the minimum hourly rate:

Overtime is paid on top of that: the first two hours on a Monday to Saturday attract 150 per cent and any hours after that 200 per cent, Sunday overtime is 200 per cent all day, and public holiday overtime is 250 per cent. A guard who builds a roster around evening and weekend shifts therefore earns considerably more than the base hourly rate suggests — and permanent night work, which the award defines by the share of shifts touching the midnight to 6 am window, carries its own higher rate rather than a one-off loading.

What Melbourne employers are advertising

Advertised rates run above the award floor. In late 2026, Indeed’s Melbourne pages listed security officer roles with averages around $33 an hour, while security guard listings in the western and inner suburbs commonly sat between about $30 and $35 an hour, with supervisory and specialist roles higher again. Job ads are an indication rather than a guarantee: check whether the advertised figure is casual, whether it already assumes weekend or night shifts, and which classification level the employer is hiring at.

What moves your rate up

The certificate does not set the rate — the classification, the roster and the agreement do. Five things move a Victorian security guard up the scale:

• Classification level. The jump from Level 1 to Level 5 is a promotion path built on responsibility: monitoring and patrol work, control-room duties, supervising other officers, then coordinating operations.
• Shift pattern. Nights, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are paid at premium percentages, so two guards on the same rate can report very different weekly pay.
• Qualification and licence. CPP20218 Certificate II in Security Operations is the qualification that feeds the Victorian licensing pathway, and its units — crowd control, first aid, monitoring — open up the higher-responsibility shifts. ALIT delivers it in a blended format at West Melbourne, and its cost page sets out the fees exactly as the course structures them.
• Employer type and agreements. Larger providers and enterprise agreements frequently pay above award, which is why comparing offers matters more than comparing certificates.
• Experience on the job. Time on site is what lets an employer move you from entry guarding into supervisory classifications.

If you are weighing security against other industries, the same award logic applies everywhere: the entry qualification and the classification you land at decide the floor. ALIT’s step-by-step guide to becoming a security guard in Victoria, its roundup of jobs you can get with Certificate II in Security Operations, and its comparison of support worker pay in Victoria are useful for seeing how the numbers compare across careers.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a security guard earn per hour in Victoria?

The award minimum is $28.42 an hour for a full-time or part-time Security Officer Level 1 from 1 July 2026, and $35.53 an hour as a casual including the 25 per cent loading. Higher classifications run to $31.20 an hour full-time and $39.00 casual at Level 5, before penalties.

Do weekends and nights really change the total?

Yes. Saturdays pay 150 per cent for permanent staff and 175 per cent for casuals, Sundays 200 and 225 per cent, and public holidays 250 and 275 per cent — a weekend-heavy roster lands well above ordinary-time pay.

Do I need more than the qualification to be paid these rates?

You need both: the qualification that leads to licensing, and the licence itself to do the work. Employers pay award rates for licensed roles, and the qualification is what makes you eligible for the shift types that carry penalties.

Where should I check the current rates?

Use the Fair Work pay guide for the Security Services Industry Award 2020, which is updated each July, and confirm the classification and any enterprise agreement with the employer before accepting an offer.

The qualification behind the rate

ALIT’s CPP20218 Certificate II in Security Operations is the entry qualification for people aiming at licensed security work in Victoria, delivered in a blended format at the West Melbourne campus over 18 days for the standard program. Enrolments are open — confirm the next start date with ALIT before making plans around it, and pair the course with the licence application steps above so the training and the paperwork run in parallel.