Josh Frydenberg Got Grilled For Saying He Wants Higher Wages But Not Doing Anything About It

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has been grilled over not doing enough to fix the rising cost of living that has wreaked havoc on Australian life ahead of the federal budget.

On Friday, Frydenberg delivered the traditional speech ahead of the budget — due out March 29 — in which, he announced the budget will offer “targeted and proportionate” relief to households as inflation continues to skyrocket in Australia, and abroad.

“The time for large-scale economic stimulus is behind us,” said Frydenberg in his pre-budget speech. “We are sensibly transitioning to the next stage of our fiscal strategy, beginning to rebuild our fiscal buffers. We are at the same time sticking to our economic plan, investing in our future, creating more jobs and guaranteeing the essential services that Australians rely on.”

But in an interview with ABC’s RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas, Frydenberg was asked why he doesn’t increase wages in the public sector to encourage wage growth nationally.

As is to be expected, Frydenberg reiterated his point that the Liberal Government “doesn’t take a side” on decisions made by FairWork but “obviously wants to see wages rise.”

But while Frydenberg tried to wipe his hands clean of any responsibility to do something about the need to increase wages, Karvelas grilled him on the issue. “Isn’t that a good way to set the standard? You could also have a view, you can put in a submission and say ‘we think that this would set the standard, our view is that wages should increase.’ Why not do it?” asked Karvelas.

In response, Frydenberg argued that the government has offered support in other ways, namely, the $800 bonus for aged care workers that employees claim they’ve struggled to actually obtain. The treasurer also echoed the same point he has made time and time again, that “the best way to create higher wages is through a tighter labour market.”

But as Karvelas pointed out, “we keep waiting for the dividend of low unemployment to lead to higher wages and yet we haven’t seen it yet”, which is why Australians are so frustrated at the moment.

It is unclear exactly when we can expect the low unemployment rate to actually result in higher wages, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Frydenberg has remained tight-lipped about exactly what sort of relief Australians can expect from the budget, which is due out in a little over a week, but it appears any help will be a temporary measure — which effectively rules out solutions like increasing minimum wage.