Prime Minister Scott Morrison is apparently very distressed at the idea of workers getting a $1-an-hour wage increase, which is hilarious both because of his own absurd salary and the way a Labor spokesperson described his tantrum.
In case you haven’t been following along with all the auspol debates (honestly, fair enough), the most recent one centred wages and wage growth in relation to the increasing cost of living at the moment.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese voiced his support for a 5.1 per cent wage increase, which the PM reckons is bad actually because it means poor, allegedly starving bosses can’t pay their staff. Nevermind working class people having to spend an hour’s pay on like three capsicums.
"Businesses in a weak economy will not be able to afford wage rises. Businesses in a strong economy, that is a whole different story," Scott Morrison said.
Wage growth in real terms has been stagnant for years – what does that say about the economy then?
— Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) May 9, 2022
It’s no surprise that Albanese won the debate, but Morrison delivered some choice words on the whole thing, calling Albanese a “loose unit” for agreeing that minimum-wage workers should have their pay increased by just $1 an hour. The bar is in hell, etc.
“What we saw from Anthony Albanese yesterday was reckless, incredibly reckless,’’ Morrison said re: increasing wages.
“Anthony Albanese is a loose unit on the economy. He thinks that Australians don’t know what the impact of that would be on their interest rates, on unemployment or on inflation in the cost of living.”
FYI, we’ve already written about how that argument is bullshit and not really how this works but if you needed more convincing, here’s a little fact for ya: politicians enjoyed a huge 30 per cent wage increase over the last ten years. While minimum wage workers are fighting over scraps (scraps being that 5.1 per cent).
Scott Morrison’s salary as a backbencher was $140,000, and when he became prime minister it jumped to $550,000. Imagine. If I earned that much but continued living as I do, I could afford like three house deposits in one year.
So despite this man benefitting from a salary increase of $410,000 over the last decade (the salary for being a prime minister increased by 70,000 during this same time, according to news.com.au), he reckons giving people on minimum wage a $1 increase in their hourly pay is “dangerous”. Okay.
I don’t think Scott Morrison realises that saying Albo is a loose unit is like saying he’s a “fun guy”…
— Sally Rugg (@sallyrugg) May 11, 2022
But here’s the best part of this story: Labor’s treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers has gone absolutely in on Morrison’s comments about Albanese, calling him *Daily Mail headline voice* DESPERATE and UNHINGED.
“This prime minister is desperate, unhinged and doing all this name calling as a desperate attempt to distract from the cost of living crisis and from the policy of real wage cuts,’’ he said, per news.com.au.
“And you know that Scott Morrison is desperate and under pressure, when he does all of this name calling and all of these desperate distractions from this cost of living crisis of which falling real wages is a big part of the story.
“Scott Morrison in one press conference says that the government shouldn’t indicate a view at the same time as he’s saying 5.1 per cent is too high. He can’t have it both ways.”
Okay so maybe he said desperate a few too many times, but is he wrong??
You know the power of workers when the most powerful man in the country feels threatened by the lowest-paid earning $1 more per hour. Our leader, everyone.
The post Scott Morrison, Who Earns $500K, Is Apparently ‘Desperate’ & ‘Unhinged’ Over A $1 Wage Increase appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
