Australia Minimum Wage Rises 4.75%, Lowest Paid Get 6% Boost

Nearly 3 million workers in Australia will receive a 4.75% pay rise, while about 100,000 of the country’s lowest paid will receive a higher 6% increase, after the Fair Work Commission handed down its annual minimum wage decision.

Announcing the 4.75% decision applicable to the roughly 2.8 million workers on award wages, the Fair Work Commission’s president, Justice Adam Hatcher, announced that the lowest ongoing wage rate for employees would climb from nearly $24.95 an hour to $26.44 – a lift of just under 6%.

Hatcher said this year’s decision, which applies from 1 July, was “particularly challenging” in the context of surging fuel prices adding to already existing inflationary pressures.

He pointed that falling living standards had hit the lowest paid the hardest, justifying what he called “additional measures” to protect more vulnerable employees.

Unions had demanded a 6% minimum wage increase after last month’s budget projected inflation reaching 5% in the year to June. A peak employers’ association, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was calling for a 3.5% increase.

The cost of living has been the number one issue weighing on Australian households since inflation tore through the economy in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdowns.

The previous minimum wage increase was 3.5% for 2025-26.