Pay rises given to aged care workers could be “stepped out” over a period of time, Aged Care Minister Anika Wells says.
Wells was speaking from Brisbane during a visit by the Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles, where she said there was modelling on how much a wage increase would cost, but it was “hypothetical” until the fair work umpire handed down its decision on aged care workers’ pay.
She pointed to the community workers who were awarded a significant pay rise under the Rudd-Gillard government, which was “stepped out across nine years”.
“So the sequencing around that—there’s lots more work to do,” Wells told reporters on Tuesday….