You are paid from the first day of your internship. Hospitals in NSW generally pay fortnightly and interns these days earn about AU$25/hr. From there on, roughly every year, you get a $3 pay rise. Afterhours (eg. from 5pm - 7am) you get x1.5 times above mentioned rates. Saturday whole day the same. Sunday I think is double time meaning you x2 times rates mentioned above. It averages out an intern earns about $1500 - $2000 per fortnight after tax. Note some people take a year off after they graduate from Uni. Ofcourse those people don't get paid "straight after uni". You need to work to be paid.
If you want to specialise, you are paid during your training years, but you also pay tuition, workshop, college, exam fees. A trainee (registrar) is paid around $40 - $50 per hour depending on seniority. Throughout your training there will be numerous workshops, each of which usually not more than 3 days in total. Each workshop averages around $800 - $1000. Annual college trainee membership fee varies from college to college, but is in the magnitude of around $300 - $800 per year. These are nothing compared to what's coming up next. Yearly tuition fee can be around $1000 - $3000. When you sit for exams, it's around $1000 - $5000 per attempt. Basically you fill out 2 or 3 sheets of a few hundred multiple choice questions, which are then computer marked, and chi ching, pay $1000 - $5000 please (actually you pay first then sit exam). No refund if you fail. There are two exams generally: Part 1 and 2. Part 1 you are generally expected to pass within 2 years of being accepted onto training program. I heard someone attempted 5 times. I think he did pass eventually. Part 2 is also called exit exam, which you need to pass before you are formally recognised as a fellow, who is basically a newbie specialist. Once you become a fellow, consider yourself finally free from slavery of medicine and can be your own boss (to a large extent) thereon. The salary of specialist is a big jump (at least doubles) from registrar. You still need to pay for annual college membership fee which again varies, can be between as little as $400 to something like $10,000 per year. Insurance fees on top. Other hidden costs are costs of your sanity, health and youth. Priceless.
