ACTU media release: It’s every day Australians who need a pay rise, not Turnbull’s top political staffers

It’s every day Australians who need a pay rise, not Turnbull’s top political staffers

Tuesday 16th January, 2018.

News today that the Turnbull Government has used a special legal power to pay 30 political staffers above the top pay rate of $259,000 shows how out-of-touch the government is with every day working Australians.

Quotes attributable to President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Ged Kearney:

“There are so many Australians who need a pay rise far more than the Prime Minister’s top political staffers, who already earn hundreds of thousands.

“Instead of bending over backwards to give highly paid executive staffers even more money; the Turnbull Government should focus on the wages of every day working Australians, who are suffering record low wage growth, including people who work in the front line delivering our public services.

“The Prime Minister’s top executives are getting this special treatment but the government has imposed pay freezes and real wage cuts on average public sector workers.

“Under the Turnbull Government, work is getting more insecure, wages are stagnating and we’re in a housing affordability crisis, all while big business profits go up.

“The richest 1 per cent of Australians owns more wealth than the bottom 70 per cent of Australians but the Turnbull Government is doing all it can to make this inequality worse with pay rises for executives, tax cuts for big business, cutting penalty rates, cutting secure public sector jobs and attacking workers’ unions.”