Workers in the care services sector say the new wage increase will discourage the high turnover that currently exists and will encourage higher skilled workers.
When she was born 99 years ago, Cathy Anderson never imaged there would be pay parity with me.
Her care worker, Humera Narejo, earns barely more than the minimum wage, but as they reflect on the past, both women are now excited about the future.
"I'm so pleased that they're doing this, I really am, because I think it will give women also a better outlook," Ms Anderson told Newshub.
Ms Narejo agrees and says as times change, things are improving.
"Time has changed and things are getting better and better for women," she said.
That means a break for thousands of families.
Since Ms Narejo moved here from Pakistan 15 years ago, she and her husband have struggled to live the life they dreamed of.
"My children are in university so it's not enough - every week there is a deficiency, we have to sometimes borrow the money or get it from overseas. It's very hard," she said.
It's not the first time discrimination has been noted in the care sector.
Driven largely by Cliff Robinson, who cares for his two children with microcephaly, in 2012 the Appeals Court ruled that parents of disabled children should be paid as carers.
Family caregivers have since been granted minimum wage, but they're not included among the disability carers who'll get a wage increase under Tuesday's changes.
"I'm just stunned that the Prime Minister could even think of being so miserly towards the parents who work so hard for so many years to get a decent amount of money for looking after their disabled people," Mr Robinson told Newshub.
It's a fight families are now taking as a judicial review to the Supreme Court.
Newshub.
