Small Business Australia responds to latest wage increases

There are calls for Australia’s politicians to “get their snouts out of the trough” and offer “consistent leadership” on business, with fears the latest wage increase could end many small businesses.

The Fair Work Commission has increased the minimum wage by 5.2 per cent, while award wages will grow by 4.6 per cent.

Bill Lang is Executive Director of Small Business Australia and told Tom Elliott it would have a massive impact.

“Nobody would begrudge people getting a little bit of extra income, given what’s happening with the cost of living across every imaginable expense, but for many small businesses, who don’t earn a lot of money – we are not talking about fat cats and big end of town here – if you’ve got four employees and it’s an extra $8000 employing them and you can’t pass that on in higher prices and still maintain a total level of revenue, that’s a cut in the income of the small business family, most of which have had an awful couple of years, as we all know,” he said.

Press PLAY below to hear his thoughts on the matter

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