Minimum wages get a boost, and a devilish mystery on the Gold Coast
6/2/202610 min
Wednesday, 3 June: Minimum wages get a boost; Russia ramps up attacks on Ukraine; Anthropic prepares to list; And a devilish mystery on the Gold Coast...
Hosted by Alice Dempster and Andrew Williams
Researched by Andrew Williams, Alice Dempster, Larissa Huntington, Anna Pykett and Sophie Felice
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAlice Dempster· Host0:00
This is a Squiz podcast, [upbeat music] where your shortcut to being informed. Good morning. I'm Alice Dempster.
Andrew Williams· Host0:08
And I'm Andrew Williams.
Alice Dempster· Host0:10
It's Wednesday the 3rd of June. In your Squiz today, minimum wages get a boost, Russia ramps up attacks on Ukraine, Anthropic prepares to list, and a devilish mystery on the Gold Coast. This is your Squiz today. [upbeat music] One of the biggest stories around yesterday and still this morning is about the Fair Work Commission signing off on lifting the minimum wage by 6% and award wages by 4.75%. And the main takeaway, Andrew, is that it means around 2.8 million Australians will get a pay rise next month.
Andrew Williams· Host0:46
That makes up about 21% of the workforce, so one in five of us roughly, and those workers are in industries like food and accommodation, healthcare, retail, and administrative support. So it'll give them some help to cope with increases in the cost of living, which we know is a big issue at the moment. And to put it in dollar terms, it means if you're on the minimum wage, you will pocket up to an extra $56.90 a week and that would push your pay packet over $1,000 a week for the first time. So this hasn't come out of the blue. The minimum wage is something that gets reviewed by Fair Work every year after they speak to the government, unions, and businesses, but it's making some waves this year because it's been lifted higher than the current inflation rate, which is 4.2%.
Alice Dempster· Host1:29
And if