Aussies could soon have a four-day working week and more holidays
Australians could soon enjoy a four-day working week, as unions make a fresh push for shorter working weeks and more holidays over tax cuts to help improve Australia's productivity.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation launched the push in response to the Productivity Commission, which will set the agenda for next month's economic reform roundtable.
AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy told The Australian last week there needed to be a discussion about cutting hours in response to increased productivity, which will benefit Aussie workers.
Murphy has argued there is a variety of ways to reduce working hours without cuts to pay, which included four-day week, nine-day working fortnights, or a 35-hour week.
Murphy argued that work-life balance was more important to employees than a cut in income tax or company tax, arguing most working Aussies were fine paying taxes to fund government services or infrastructure. Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek (left) joined Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce (right) and Monique Wright on Sunrise to discuss the four-day week. Credit: Seven
'We're not one of the advocates that says we should pay less tax,' Murphy told the publication.
'One of the ways that we can share in productivity, if we're more productive over the course of the week, is to work less hours. That would be a great outcome from a productivity discussion.
'Or (if) we were able to have more annual leave to spend our time with the people that we love and care about.'
On Monday, Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek joined a Sunrise panel the government was open to ideas.
'We'll listen to all views respectfully (at the roundtable),' Plibersek said.
'The Treasurer's roundtable on productivity, I think, is a great way of bringing unions and business and other groups together to discuss how we make our economy stronger and more productive.
'What we won't be doing to improve productivity is ask people to work longer for less.
'That was the policy of the previous government.
'We want to invest in our people, boost training, invest in technologies and new ways of working, make sure that we're playing to our competitive advantages as a nation.
'That's how we boost productivity.'
Previously, Skills Minister Andrew Giles said key trades to boost productivity in the country will be electricians to help build homes, as well as more people to work in aged care, childcare, health and disability sectors.
Parliament will resume on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to introduce legislation to cut student debt by 20 per cent, end subsidies for childcare centres that fail to meet safety requirements, and prevent penalty rates from being lowered by the Fair Work Commission.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Becky was priced out of a home. This is how she got one
Sole parent Becky Lois once feared she was priced out of renting and at risk of becoming homeless. She had lost one source of income and, even working full-time, wouldn't have had enough to make ends meet. Then she was referred for a place in community housing with support services. Her stress levels fell, she has a smart apartment and, more than a year on, she feels more able to manage working and parenting. She's not alone. More employed people are seeking out homelessness services, a new report finds, as record rents across the country add pressure to the housing crisis. The Mission Australia report found that of the 2323 people at risk of homelessness who accessed its support services in the past five years, one in 10 were employed. That number jumped to one in seven over 2024, indicating more working Australians were struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Mission Australia deputy chief executive, Ben Carblis, said demand for the non-denominational Christian charity's housing support had grown 52 per cent over the past 12 months. 'What that shows is with the increase in the cost of living … the number of people at risk of homelessness is rising quite a lot.' Domain data show median house and unit rents were at record highs in every capital city other than Darwin in the June quarter. Asking rents for houses were $780 per week in Sydney, $580 in Melbourne, $650 in Brisbane and $700 in Perth. Asking rents for units were $740, $575, $620 and $620, respectively. Lois was referred to Mission Australia and has since moved into community housing run by the charity. She said she feared she was priced out of living in Sydney. 'My ex-husband was providing financial support for me and my son above and beyond what he had to do, but that had to end at some point, and I'm not a high-income earner,' Lois said. 'It was so stressful it was affecting my long-term health.'
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
Becky was priced out of a home. This is how she got one
Sole parent Becky Lois once feared she was priced out of renting and at risk of becoming homeless. She had lost one source of income and, even working full-time, wouldn't have had enough to make ends meet. Then she was referred for a place in community housing with support services. Her stress levels fell, she has a smart apartment and, more than a year on, she feels more able to manage working and parenting. She's not alone. More employed people are seeking out homelessness services, a new report finds, as record rents across the country add pressure to the housing crisis. The Mission Australia report found that of the 2323 people at risk of homelessness who accessed its support services in the past five years, one in 10 were employed. That number jumped to one in seven over 2024, indicating more working Australians were struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Mission Australia deputy chief executive, Ben Carblis, said demand for the non-denominational Christian charity's housing support had grown 52 per cent over the past 12 months. 'What that shows is with the increase in the cost of living … the number of people at risk of homelessness is rising quite a lot.' Domain data show median house and unit rents were at record highs in every capital city other than Darwin in the June quarter. Asking rents for houses were $780 per week in Sydney, $580 in Melbourne, $650 in Brisbane and $700 in Perth. Asking rents for units were $740, $575, $620 and $620, respectively. Lois was referred to Mission Australia and has since moved into community housing run by the charity. She said she feared she was priced out of living in Sydney. 'My ex-husband was providing financial support for me and my son above and beyond what he had to do, but that had to end at some point, and I'm not a high-income earner,' Lois said. 'It was so stressful it was affecting my long-term health.'
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
'Smoke and mirrors': Chris Bowen's claim power prices are coming down dismantled by energy expert
Energy Minister Chris Bowen's boasts about energy prices have been dismantled by an energy expert, with the Coalition calling on Bowen to "come clean" with the Australian people. On Wednesday, Mr Bowen was asked if he stood by the Albanese government's commitment to cut power bills by $275 by the end of the year. At first Mr Bowen insisted energy bills have come down since last year, pointing to ABS data released on Wednesday. ' People looked at the fact that energy prices have fallen, as I just said, by 6.2 per cent in a year just gone,' he said. 'They would have been 16.6 per cent higher if [Tehan] had had his way and energy bill relief had not applied. That was the key difference.' Frontier Economics co-founder and Managing Director Danny Price, Shadow Energy Minister Dan Tehan and Nationals MP Matt Canavan have objected to Mr Bowen's claims. Speaking to Mr Tehan said his Labor counterpart 'must come clean' with the Australian people. Mr Tehan said once the $3.5 billion in energy bill rebates were taken out of consideration, power bills in Australia have gone up by 10 per cent since June last year, and up 32 per cent since the June before. 'We need to stop energy prices rising, not take billions of dollars from Australians every year, to give it back to them to temporarily hide the price rises,' Mr Tehan said. 'This is not honouring a commitment it is deceiving people.' Frontier Economics Managing Director Danny Price told the subsidy was put in place to 'disguise' the electricity price rise which was announced the Australian Energy Regulator in March. 'Cost increases across nearly all components of the DMO (Default Market Offer) have resulted in draft DMO 7 prices for residential customers increasing between 2.5 per cent and 8.9 per cent compared with DMO 6, depending on the region. Small business customers could see rises between 4.2 per cent and 8.2 per cent,' the AER said. Mr Price said the Energy Minister's claim that electricity consumers were better off by 6.2 per cent was due to taxpayers 'paying for their own price reductions by funding the subsidies to themselves'. Nationals Senator Matt Canavan said once the subsidies run out, power bills will go 'through the roof'. 'Chris Bowen's claim is like stealing $100 from someone and giving $20 back so they can thank him,' he said. 'It's all smoke and mirrors.' According to Budget Paper No. 1 (2025-26), the government will commit an extra $1.8 billion to extend energy bill relief, in the form of two quarterly $75 rebates, to the end of 2025. The rebates are on top of around $5 billion in rebates being applied to electricity bills for millions of households and small businesses since 2023. The Frontier Economics boss said households were 'actually worse off' thanks to the Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief Fund, and pointed to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' explanation that the price reductions were an 'artifice of taxpayer funded subsidies' and the annual fall in price was directly due to the handouts. 'Electricity [prices] rose 8.1 per cent this quarter, following a 16.3 per cent rise in the March quarter,' the ABS said. 'Despite two consecutive quarterly rises in electricity, the series has recorded a fall of 6.2 per cent over the past 12 months. 'The annual fall is due to the introduction of the second round of the Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief Fund (EBRF) rebates from July 2024, which continue to reduce electricity costs in most capital cities.' Mr Price said despite the 'massive subsidies', consumers were much worse off than a few years ago because of the relentless price rises that have already occurred that were not offset by subsidies. 'Australians now pay some of the highest electricity prices in the world. It seems as though now taxpayers will continue to pay for the ever-rising costs of renewable subsidies,' he said. The Energy Minister also claimed on Wednesday that 'most cheapest form of energy ... is renewable'. Mr Price said it was 'deceptive and misleading' for individuals to make comparisons between the stand-alone costs of wind and solar and coal, gas or nuclear. 'Consumers are supplied with a mix of generation sources, not just wind and solar. The only valid way that generation costs should be compared is the total cost of the least cost mix of generation,' he said. 'Frontier Economics showed that the highest cost system is one that relied on renewables and batteries. The reason is simple. Renewable generators only produce about a quarter or third of the electricity for the same capacity.' 'And then you need to pay for the costs of storing excess renewable energy to supply consumer for the majority of time that these generators do not generate electricity, and you also need to pay for the back-up generation when storages are depleted,' he said. 'Once all these costs are included, which the CSIRO don't include ... then renewables are not the cheapest form of generation."
