Beat wage theft, lift salaries: Survey finds most Aussies in favour of proposed reforms
Most Australians want to protect workers from wage theft and increase wages, showing that the “contentious” elements of the government’s workplace reform bill may not be so controversial after all.
Polling by Essential Research found support for most aspects of the workplace changes has increased, despite growing lobbying efforts from business bodies.
Four in five Australians agree with measures that protect workers from wage theft, while 65 per cent of respondents believe employees and labour hire workers should be paid the same if they do the same jobs.
More than two-thirds want the government to increase wages across the board, 62 per cent want regulation for the gig economy and a majority want the government to change workplace laws to enable unions to negotiate higher wages, up from 47 per cent previously.
64 per cent of respondents believe big business has too much power, an increase from 59 per cent in July 2022.
Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus accused business leaders of delaying the reforms against the community’s wishes.
“Every day of delay saves them money and costs working people,” she said.
“Working Australians need support now and this should be the priority of all politicians.”
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The findings come a day after the federal opposition lost a bid to carve out and pass the “non-contentious” elements of the workplace bill by the end of the year.
This included protections for emergency workers with post-traumatic stress and employees facing domestic violence, and also brought silica dust into line with rules for asbestos along with protecting redundancy payments.
A Senate inquiry is investigating the broader workplace reforms but is not set to hand down its report until February.
The bill is due for debate in early 2024.
