Need to move faster towards higher wages

THE usual laudatory statements from captains of industry, key opinion leaders and subject matter experts following the tabling of the federal budget are an annual exercise in which the noise often drowns out what is relevant to the vast majority of citizens – we just want to know what’s in it for us, especially when the economy seems to be chugging along decently and the lingering impact from the Covid-19 lockdowns seems to have mostly dissipated.

Against the backdrop of a higher cost of living, higher wage scales are the best antidote for the pain of ordinary workers who have to deal with inflation eating into their take-home pay.