Almost three million of Australia’s lowest-paid workers are poised to receive a wage increase of 4.75 per cent, after the Fair Work Commission (FWC) handed down its latest decision.
Announced on Tuesday morning, the adjustment will apply to minimum and award wages from July 1.
The ruling comes amid mounting cost-of-living pressures, with global tensions, including the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, fuelling already elevated inflation.
FWC President Justice Adam Hatcher when announcing the change, acknowledged the economic impacts of the conflict, as well as a bump in Australia’s inflation at the end of 2025.
Unions have a substantial rise is essential to prevent low-income workers from falling further behind.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) pushed for a six per cent increase, which would represent a record lift in award wages.
Employer groups, however, said that a rise of that scale would place additional strain on businesses already grappling with higher costs.
They argue it could lead to more insolvencies and further entrench inflation as companies pass increased wages onto consumers.
The Albanese government did not recommend a figure in their Fair Work wage submission
Headline inflation stood at 4.2 per cent in April.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry instead proposed a 3.5 per cent increase, pointing to underlying inflation, recorded at 3.4 per cent, as a more appropriate benchmark.
ACTU meanwhile claimed that their figure of 6 per could would only add a ‘modest’ 0.64 per cent to the national wages bill.
‘Past increases haven’t increased inflation, and this one won’t either,’ the ACTU said in a statement before the announcement.
The Albanese Government also lodged a submission to the FWC in March, not offering a figure, but calling for a ‘sustainable real wage increase’.
More to come…
