victorian labor - Lamp Online

Victoria may become the first state to both fund and mandate minimum staff-to-resident ratios in private aged care facilities under a budget proposal by the Andrews Labor Government.

Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that his Government will provide $40 million to help cover the cost of introducing minimum staff-to-resident ratios in private aged care, provided the Federal Government also comes to the table in their role as the primary regulator and funder of the aged care sector.

Victoria’s private nursing homes were ravaged by COVID-19, which resulted in hundreds of elderly deaths across the state.

Premier Andrews said that he “wanted to make sure every family has confidence that older Victorians – our parents and grandparents – are comfortable and cared for.

“Ratios are vital in our public aged care system, and we want the Commonwealth to join us in making sure they exist in every single facility in Victoria.”

Victoria was also the first state to mandate staffing ratios in publicly owned nursing homes. Staffing ratios do not currently exist for NSW aged care facilities.

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The ALP is supporting the union movement, while the Liberal Party throws its weight behind employers in the battle over the minimum wage.

The union movement is pushing for a 6 per cent increase to the minimum wage in a two-step process to get it up to what it says is a living wage.

The ACTU says no full-time worker should be living in relative poverty – which is defined by the OECD as 60 per cent of median earnings.

This landmark could be reached, says the ACTU, with a further 5.5 per cent increase in 2020.

As The Lamp goes to press the ALP has committed to replacing the minimum wage with a living wage.

Even though corporate profits have increased by 43 per cent since 2016 compared to an 8 per cent rise in wages, employers groups are lobbying the Fair Work Commission to limit a rise in the minimum wage to between zero and two per cent.

Restaurant and Catering Australia, in its submission to the Commission, advocated for no increase – effectively a real wage cut – while the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for a 1.8 per cent increase and the Australian Industry Group want the increase limited to two per cent.

The federal Liberal Party leadership appears to back the employers’ position. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann described slower wages growth as a “deliberate design feature”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Labor’s proposal to change the rules used by the Fair Work Commission to set the minimum wage would “force businesses to sack workers”.

The Victorian Labor government, in its submission, argued for a 5.6 per cent increase – close to that of the ACTU.

The federal Labor opposition argued that international evidence shows that “significant increases in the minimum wage can be sustained without costing jobs”. It also cited a Reserve Bank of Australia research paper, which found that “modest, incremental” wage increases do not harm jobs or hours.

Victorian Labor to fund staffing ratios in nursing homes, in national first

The minimum wage should be a living wage