STATE MINIMUM WAGE

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:21): My question is to the Minister for Industrial Relations. Will the minister provide the chamber with details of the recent decision by the Industrial Relations Commission of South Australia to increase the pay of the state's lowest-paid public sector workers?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:21): I thank the honourable member for her question because this goes to the core of true Labor values, that is, looking after the low paid and people on the minimum wage. It gives me great pleasure to answer this question.

On 1 January 2010, South Australia referred certain industrial relations powers to the commonwealth to include the private sector in a national system of industrial relations. This means that all private sector employees, including those in the community service sector, have minimum wages determined by the Fair Work Australia Minimum Wage Panel. The public sector, including almost all government business enterprises and the local government sector, had been excluded from the referral and are subject to the South Australian Fair Work Act 1994 (called 'the act'). This means minimum wages in these sectors are established by the Industrial Relations Commission of South Australia.

Currently, the state minimum wage is $580.30 a week. On 3 June 2011, the Fair Work Australia Minimum Wage Panel delivered its 2010-11 annual wage review decision. It awarded a 3.4 per cent increase in the national minimum wage and the same amount to all modern award classifications. The Fair Work Australia decision to increase minimum wages by 3.4 per cent had the effect of increasing the national minimum wage by $19.40 a week from $569.90 to $589.30, operative from 1 July 2011. This increase applies to the entire private sector in South Australia.

The commission, acting on its own initiative, has concluded proceedings for the 2011 state wage case and minimum standard remuneration review. SA Unions, the Chief Executive of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, the Employee Ombudsman and the South Australian government all supported an increase of 3.4 per cent to the minimum rates and state award wages. This will be a flow-on of the increase awarded by the Fair Work Australia Minimum Wage Panel in the 2010-11 annual wage review for national industrial relations systems employees. On 9 September 2011, the commission delivered its decision supporting a flow-on of the Fair Work Australia decision and awarding a 3.4 per cent increase to state awards.

This decision applies to 47 state awards of the commission, with the coverage limited to the South Australian public and local government sectors. This decision means South Australia's lowest paid workers under the state industrial system will not be left behind workers on the minimum national wage. This decision to increase the minimum wage by $19.70 a week for a full-time adult employee also helps maintain the real value of wages even during these times of relatively minor inflation. We all know that the cost of living pressures are a daily concern for South Australian households, and any additional income will help to ease the burden.

This decision by the Industrial Relations Commission of South Australia ensures that the increase to the national minimum wage now flows to the lowest-paid workers still covered by the state industrial relations system. The decision increases the wage of about 1,100 workers employed by the state government and up to 150 employed by local government in South Australia. The 3.4 per cent increase takes the state minimum award wage and minimum standard remuneration for a full-time adult employee to $600 per week, up from $580.30, an increase of $19.70, effective from the first pay period on or after 1 October 2011.