More than $847.25 million in wages are estimated to be underpaid each year, affecting 1.38 million workers - in June 2022 that included approx. 16,045 NSW Northern Rivers employees believed to be owed stolen wages of est. $4.8 million

 

“Australian workers are dealing with the rising cost

of living, housing market pressures, a rental crisis,

and stagnant wage growth.

Unpaid earnings harm people who worked in good faith for their pay packet and - right now - people are having to carefully count every dollar…

More than $847.25 million in wages are estimated to be underpaid each year, affecting 1.38 million workers, or

about 11.5 per cent of the employed Australian workforce”

[McKell Institute, “Unfinished Business: The Ongoing Battle Against Wage Theft”, August 2023]

Smart Company, 22 August 2023:

Wage theft is costing Australian workers $850 million a year, demonstrating an “ingrained culture” of deliberate underpayment and the need for criminalisation at the federal level, according to a damning new report from the McKell Institute.

A fresh analysis of Fair Work Ombudsman audits stretching back to 2009 shows more than a quarter of audited businesses failed to observe the monetary obligations set out by industry awards or enterprise agreements, according to the think tank.

Its calculations show nearly 27,000 businesses were found to have underpaid approximately 1.3 million Australian workers over that time frame.

The real level of wage underpayment is likely higher, McKell Institute CEO Ed Cavanough said, as the analysis did not cover the underpayment of penalty rates, or circumstances where payment under a different award would have been more appropriate.

“This is an extraordinary amount of money being stolen and it’s unacceptable,” Cavanough said in a statement.

Wage underpayment hits businesses big and small

The report arrives against a backdrop of high-profile wage underpayments claims, with Coles, Target, and Bunnings just a few of the major brands to have revealed significant wage underpayments in recent years.

Wage underpayment also stretches deep into the small business sector, with the Fair Work Ombudsman on Tuesday revealing it has levelled nearly $85,000 in penalties against two Victorian businesses accused of underpaying young workers, as a result of its latest investigation.

The Ombudsman recently launched a spate of undercover campaigns targeting small restaurants and food court vendors deemed to offer suspiciously low-cost fare.

The McKell Institute argues laws criminalising wage theft across the board are necessary to discourage employers from deliberately withholding earnings and entitlements.

The report throws its weight behind the federal government’s upcoming industrial relations reform package, which is expected to contain legislation making wage theft a criminal offence across the board….

Read the full article here.

In the NSW Northern Rivers region there are two federal electorates, Page and Richmond.

According to the McKell Institute 29-page analysis of the economic impact of wage theft in Australia, as of June 2022:

• In the electorate of Page there were est. 1,366 non-compliant business which between them were believed to have stolen wages from 7,023 employees with a total minimum value of $4,289,664.

• In the electorate of Richmond there were est. 1,754 non-compliant businesses which between them were believed to have stolen wages from 9,022 employees with a total minimum value of $5,510,65.

The NSW bench demonstrates a more balanced approach to political & environmental activism than the former Perrottet Coalition Government ever did

 

The first day of protest actions in the Sydney CBD, coordinated by Blockade Australia. In New South Wales, it's effectively illegal to protest without a permit. Disrupting traffic also potentially comes with a $22,000 fine and 2 years in jail - laws that were legislated in response to Blockade Australia's previous mobilisations. At least 10 activists were arrested on the first day during this action. Dozens more would be tracked down, raided and arrested in the subsequent days.

TEXT & IMAGE: Matt Hrkac, 28 June 2022

The Guardian, 6 May 2023:

Protesters who faced a $22,000 fine or two years in prison for demonstrating in Sydney under tough laws championed by the Perrottet government have instead walked away without convictions or with modest financial penalties, a lawyer for the activists says.

New South Wales police charged at least 20 people with a range of offences during Blockade Australia protests in Sydney last June.

The offences included seriously disrupting or obstructing traffic on a major bridge, tunnel or road, the new laws subject to harsh penalties including a maximum fine of $22,000 or two years’ imprisonment.

But lawyer Mark Davis, who is representing 18 people charged with the offence, says the vast majority received only minor penalties.

Last month, 15 of the cases were resolved, Davis said, with six protesters receiving non-convictions, and the rest receiving modest fines of between $100 and $800.

Three more cases are set to be heard later this month.

The new laws were passed last April, with the then-NSW government saying previous penalties had not prevented protests.

“The old laws, at $400 a pop, were no deterrent,” the then-NSW attorney general, Mark Speakman, said last June.

“It’s hard to imagine that $22,000 fine or two years in jail won’t deter a lot of people. It may be there’s a tiny core that will protest, regardless.”

At the time of the charges, activists told the Guardian that the harsh new penalties were unlikely to deter them.

The then-premier, Dominic Perrottet, described the Blockade Australia activists as “bloody idiots”, and his then-deputy, Paul Toole, said they should “go and get a real job”.

But Davis said it was clear the judiciary did not share the opinion of the then-government regarding the right to protest.

“This is the trouble with over-criminalising very simple activities,” he said.....