Australia’s lowest-paid workers have the Albanese government’s backing for a wage boost that will stop rising living costs from eating into their pay packets.
The government is expected to flesh out its case for the lowest-paid workers in a submission to the industrial umpire’s yearly update to the minimum wage on Friday.
Few are arguing against an increase in light of painfully high inflation, which clocked in at 6.8 percent annual growth at the last official count, but the opposition and business groups have called for moderation or risk inflation staying higher for longer.
Last year, Labor supported the case for a lift in the minimum wage roughly in line with inflation, which at that point had already started to track upwards sharply….