The Australia Institute is urging the FWC to increase award and minimum wages by 7.5% to 11.1%, to "undo the damage" to real wages inflicted since the COVID-19 pandemic, and to compensate for the forthcoming cost of living increases caused by the Middle East conflict.
FWC-ordered minimum wage increases play a "critical role" in "reducing entrenched, intersectional wage inequality" for Aboriginal workers, who are more likely to be award-reliant, the Centre for Indigenous People and Work says in what is likely the first annual wage review submission to focus solely on First Nations workers.
The Albanese Government has again kept its election promise to urge the FWC's Annual Wage Review bench to order real wage increases for award-reliant and minimum wage workers that keep pace with the cost of living.
Peak employer body ACCI will seek a 3.5% rise in the Annual Wage Review 2026 after chief executive Andrew McKellar described the ACTU's 5% claim as "self-defeating".
The ACTU is seeking a 5% rise in award rates and the federal minimum wage to keep pace with cost-of-living pressures "that have gotten a lot tougher" with the fuel price rises from the Middle East war and interest rate hikes.
The FWC's annual wage review expert panel has today granted a "sustainable" CPI-beating 3.5% rise in all award rates and the national minimum wage, emphasising that now the inflation genie is back in the bottle, it will no longer "defer" taking action to reverse the pandemic-driven reduction in real wages.
The FWC's annual wage review expert panel will hand down its 2024-25 ruling on Tuesday morning, after the newly-returned Albanese Government urged a real increase in the minimum wage and award rates, the ACTU sought a 4.5% rise and ACCI and AIG no more than 2.5% and 2.6% respectively.
DEWR has told the Annual Wage Review expert panel at a consultation hearing this morning that while the local economy will "not be immune" if international economic conditions deteriorate as a result of US tariffs and other factors, it expects domestic growth to gradually pick up over this year and 2026.
The second-term Albanese Government has today delivered on a key election promise, asking the FWC's Annual Wage Review bench to grant an "economically sustainable" real increase in the minimum wage and award rates.
