Australia’s Catholic bishops have welcomed the Fair Work Commission’s decision to increase the national minimum wage, saying the rise will provide relief for workers facing growing cost-of-living pressures.
The commission announced on 3 June that the national minimum wage will increase to $1,004.90 per week, or $26.44 per hour, from 1 July.
Modern award wage rates will increase by 4.75 per cent from the same date.
Earlier this year, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference called for a 5 per cent increase to the national minimum wage in a submission to the Fair Work Commission.
Bishops Commission for Social Justice, Mission and Service delegate for employment relations Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green said the decision would offer real assistance to those affected by rising housing, energy and household costs.
Bishop Columba also acknowledged the commission’s efforts to balance the needs of workers, employers and the broader economy.
He said the church had long supported the protection of workers and the need to ensure employment upholds human dignity.
“As Pope Leo XIV said in his recently released teaching letter, Magnifica Humanitas, ‘work is not simply an instrument; it expresses and enhances the dignity of our lives’,” Bishop Columba said.
“Our goal must be, as Pope Leo states, to ‘enable each person to live with dignity through his or her own work’, as well as ensure there is just compensation for that work.”
The bishops’ submission, based on original economic research by Australian Catholic University Associate Professor Tom Barnes, argued that the Fair Work Commission should gradually eliminate the gap between the national minimum wage and the poverty line for sole parents and carers with two dependent children.
It also called for substantial reductions in the poverty gap experienced by couples with dependent children.
Associate Professor Barnes welcomed the commission’s acknowledgement that a significant gap exists between wages and the cost of living.
“It also argued that this year’s increase in the minimum wage is designed to begin reducing this gap over time,” he said.
“This is a development that should be welcomed by all who desire an end to poverty among working people.”
The Catholic Church is one of Australia’s largest private-sector employers, employing more than 220,000 people across health, aged care, education, social services and administration.
The church has provided submissions on minimum wage cases for decades as part of its long-standing advocacy for workers’ rights.
