Australia’s lowest paid staff might quickly be in line for a pay rise as the federal government signifies it’ll again a push for the minimal wage to extend consistent with inflation.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who declared he “absolutely” supported a rise throughout final 12 months’s federal election, informed reporters he stood by that stance.
But he burdened the federal government would record how a lot it needed wages to develop by on its submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage assessment.
“What we don’t do, what we didn’t do last time, is put a dollar figure on it,” he stated.
Last 12 months, the federal government urged the FWC to not permit low-paid staff to go backwards, shrugging off issues a wage improve might result in additional inflation pressures.
Inflation reached a three-decade excessive of seven.8 per cent in December, nicely above the Reserve Bank’s 2 to three per cent goal vary.
Unions have been advocating for the assessment to elevate wages consistent with inflation.
Employment Minister Tony Burke informed the ABC the federal government would hand down its submission to the assessment 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 stated.
Asked if he could be following Mr Albanese’s “absolutely” assure, Mr Burke stated this 12 months’s submission wouldn’t 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 stated.
“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.
“And certainly the full award system goes all the way up to some people who are on significantly higher wages, the principles that we dealt with last year were to say no government ever wants anyone to go backwards.
“But last year we put forward the principle that the focus needed to be on the people on the lowest incomes because they had the least savings and they had the least room to move.”
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will on Wednesday morning present an replace to the month-to-month inflation indicator.
