Labor seeks pay day for three million workers
Labor will make a submission to the Fair Work Commission in an attempt to boost electoral support through cost-of-living promises.
The Labor Party is expected to announce a pay-rise push for 2.9 million low-paid workers.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already spruiked his government’s relief measures on the campaign trail — including tax cuts and cheaper energy bills.
On Wednesday, Labor will make a submission to the Fair Work Commission recommending it gives an “economically sustainable real wage” increase to the nation’s award workers.
But the move is expected to set up a fight with the Coalition about rising wages adding to Australia’s inflation problem.
Journalist Michelle Grattan reports that Labor’s submission will say the pay increase should be consistent with inflation returning to the Reserve Bank’s target band of 2 to 3 per cent.
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“Labor believes workers should get ahead with a real wage increase,” the submission reportedly says.
“Despite heightened global uncertainty and volatility, the Australian economy has turned a corner.
“Inflation is now less than one-third of its peak, unemployment remains low, there are over 1 million additional people employed than in May 2022, and interest rates have started to come down.
“Economic growth rebounded at the end of last year and the private sector is now a key contributor to growth. Importantly, real wages growth has now returned and is forecast to continue across 2024-25 and 2025-26. A soft landing in our economy looks more and more likely.”
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Albanese said his party had delivered wage increases, lower inflation and a fall in interest rates.
“This campaign we will again be advocating for workers to get a pay rise to not only help them deal with the pressures of today, but to get ahead in the future,” he said.
Albanese landed in Victoria on Tuesday afternoon. It is a key battleground state in the May 3 election, with more than a dozen of its 38 seats under watch.
It was once dismissed as the “Massachusetts of Australia” by former Liberal PM John Howard, but Albanese faces a challenge as voters increasingly turn away from the unpopular state Labor government.
There will be much attention on the fights in Melbourne’s outer suburbs between Labor and the Liberals. But the government must also contend with the Greens gunning for inner-city seats.
Bob Hawke’s old seat of Wills in Melbourne’s inner-north is being contested by former Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam. She hopes to benefit from well-off progressives in the electorate and large Muslim communities angry about Labor’s position on the Israel-Gaza war.
The cost of living is the most important issue for voters at this election, and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has jumped on dissatisfaction by targeting mortgage-belt seats.
Dutton is also pursuing law and order as an issue, hosting a community crime forum in the outer-south-east Melbourne seat of Bruce on Tuesday. Labor holds the seat on a 5 per cent margin.
In the first week of the election campaign, Albanese has kept health front and centre of his bid for re-election, making a health-related announcement almost every day and in different states.
He has also sought to capitalise on the popularity of Labor premiers in Western Australia and South Australia.
