The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has argued for a 5 per cent rise in the national minimum wage.
The ACBC has lodged a submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review through the Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations, in partnership with Australian Catholic University.
Such a move would provide for an increase in the national minimum wage of $47.60 a week, taking it from $948 to $995.60 a week.
The hourly rate would rise from $24.95 to $26.20.
ACBC spokesman Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green said work should provide a wage that allows people to live with dignity, not simply survive.
“Work is meant to uphold human dignity. When wages fail to meet the basic cost of living, that dignity is compromised,” he said. “A just society ensures that those who work fulltime are not left struggling to put food on the table or keep a roof over their heads.”
He said a modest increase in the minimum wage would offer real relief to those affected by the rising cost of housing, energy, and everyday essentials.
The ACBC submission argues the Fair Work Commission should gradually eliminate the gap between the national minimum wage and the national poverty line for sole parents/carers with two dependent children.
The commission should also seek to substantially narrow the poverty gap for couples with dependent children.
“Our research shows that the national poverty line has increased by 5.8 per cent in 2026,” the submission says. “This is the largest increase in a decade. After narrowing following the historic national minimum wage increase of 8.6 per cent in 2023, the gap between the minimum wage and the poverty line has again grown.
“It is now so large that to eliminate the poverty gap for sole parents/carers with two dependent children gap would require a one-off increase in the NMW of 15.1 per cent (or $143.15) in 2026, an increase which would still leave single-income, couple-based households with two dependent children living in poverty.”
