By Paul Dobbyn
BRISBANE couple Jared and Aimee Smith’s struggle on the basic wage to keep ahead of bills as they raise their family is unfortunately all too familiar.
Because of their experience of living with constant hardship, the parents of two children have welcomed the Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations’ (ACCER) push to raise the national minimum wage.
The council, which advises the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Commission for Administration and Information, has lodged a claim with the Fair Work Commission for the national minimum wage to be set at $669.60 a week, an increase of $28.70 above its current level.
This is slightly higher than the ACTU’s claim before the commission to increase the minimum wage by $27 a week “to avoid growing inequality in Australia”.
“Getting another $20 or so in my husband’s pay packet would make a huge difference to us,” Mrs Smith said.
“It would probably go on bills but at least we would be just that much further ahead.”
ACCER chairman Brian Lawrence said its claim for an extra $28.70 a week “is based on the need for the national minimum wage to provide a decent standard of living for workers with family responsibilities”.
“The claim of $669.60 per week will not be sufficient to achieve the living wage objective, but it is a modest and realistic step in that process,” Mr Lawrence said.
Industry groups have argued for less than half that amount, saying a greater increase could lead to job losses.
However, St Vincent de Paul Society chief executive officer Dr John Falzon said “the society rejects the argument that unemployment should be addressed by making the lowest-paid workers shoulder the cost”.
“You don’t fix unemployment by forcing low-paid workers more deeply into poverty,” he said.
“We are supportive of the Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations’ advocacy for an increase to the minimum wage.
“Our members know only too well that low-income households, even when there are one or more members in the workforce, struggle to make ends meet and seek assistance from the society as a result.”
The Smith family has known tough times since arriving in Brisbane from New Zealand three years ago.
Mrs Smith was pregnant with her second child when life got even harder after her husband lost his job as a house painter.
He was forced to drive to the Gold Coast to get some part-time work mowing lawns.
“Travel costs chewed up most of what little money we had,” Mrs Smith said.
“We couldn’t get any help from Centrelink because we hadn’t been long out from New Zealand.
“That’s when Vinnies stepped in to help and brought us food and blankets to keep warm through winter … I don’t know what we would have done without this help.”
Mrs Smith still gets emotional when she talks about this difficult time.
“Christmas was very hard; we just managed to scrape together enough for some basic presents for the kids,” she said.
“Any special food for Christmas was out of the question.
“Then the Vinnies people came around with a box of food including ham, which meant an enormous amount to us.”
Mr Smith is now back working as a house painter, mainly around Toowoomba.
With travel, this means a 12-hour day.
“My husband is on about the basic wage; it’s certainly a big improvement but still barely enough to meet bills – certainly we can’t save for long-term things like a deposit on our own house,” Mrs Smith said.
“Several friends are in much the same position.
“One friend with two children is working two jobs and her husband is working one, but they are still having difficulty keeping up.”
Australian Catholic Social Justice Council chairman Bishop Christopher Saunders, on the feast of St Joseph the Worker, May 1, issued a pastoral letter on the dignity of work.
“The Catholic argument is based on the need to support the family as the central unit in society,” he said.
Bishop Saunders referred to the need for the minimum wage to be fair or “just”.
“For this reason, the minimum wage and basic conditions cannot be left simply to an agreement between employer and employee, but also require the State to ensure there are fair minimum standards of pay and conditions,” he said.
“Because work is a foundation for family life, the minimum wage must provide not only for the worker but for the needs of his or her family and for those seeking to start a family.”
