AUSTRALIAN Catholic Social Justice Council chairman Bishop Christopher Saunders has been asking some crucial questions recently about the spirit of modern Australia.
Following on from his questions about the lack of compassion the nation’s leaders have been showing to asylum seekers, Bishop Saunders is now asking us to consider attitudes shown in national policies affecting the lowest paid workers (pages 1 and 9).
He is not asking for special treatment for low-paid workers, only justice, which is what we all deserve and expect.
Bishop Saunders points out that low-paid workers in Australia are “bearing the cost of a financial crisis that was not of their making”, while the average annual pay of the CEOs of the nation’s top 20 companies is about $7.2 million. That’s 110 times average wages and 255 times the minimum wage.
We can ask ourselves if this situation reflects justice and the kind of Australia we want.
PETER BUGDEN
Editor
