Australia’s lowest-paid workers could soon be in line for a pay rise as the Albanese Government indicates it will back a push for the minimum wage to increase in line with inflation. Source: News.com.au.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who declared he “absolutely” supported an increase during last year’s federal election, told reporters he stood by that stance.
But he stressed the Government would not list how much it wanted wages to grow by on its submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review.
“What we don’t do, what we didn’t do last time, is put a dollar figure on it,” he said.
Last year, the Government urged the FWC not to allow low-paid workers to go backwards, shrugging off concerns a wage increase could lead to further inflation pressures.
Unions have been advocating for the review to lift wages in line with inflation.
Employment Minister Tony Burke told the ABC the Government would hand down its submission to the review on Friday.
“People will see that our values haven’t changed. I think that’s probably the best way I can put it in advance of announcements that we’ll make,” he said.
Asked if he would be following Mr Albanese’s “absolutely” guarantee, Mr Burke said this year’s submission would not be a “photocopy”.
“So never identical in every way. But as I’ve said, our values haven’t changed. What you referred to there was a pretty strong value statement by the Prime Minister,” he said.
“The thing that we have to work our way through is there are some members of the workforce who have the least room to move with what’s been happening with inflation.”
FULL STORY
Big hint wage rise on the way with government indicating it supports push to match minimum wage with inflation (By Courtney Gould, News.com.au)
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