Election 2025 live: unions take aim at Dutton over wages; no change to Australia’s tariff rate despite Trump backflip

ACTU calculates workers would be $8,700 worse off if Coalition had successfully blocked wage reform. Follow today’s news liveAnywhere but Canberra: Australian voters on what matters to themInteractive guide to electorates in the Australian electionListen to the first episode of our new narrative podcast series: GinaSee all our Australian election 2025 coverageGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastAustralian workers would be $8,700 worse off had Peter Dutton achieved his goal of blocking major government reforms that boosted wages, new research shows.The Getting Wages Moving: And the $8,700 risk of Peter Dutton report by the Australian Council of Trade Unions, released today, shows that wages have grown by 3.7% since Labor came to power in 2022, while in the decade prior, under the Coalition government, they grew 2.1%. Under the Rudd and Gillard governments, wage growth averaged 3.6%.While workers are doing it tough, he would have made things a lot worse by keeping wage rises low and allowed big business to continue using their wage cutting loopholes.At a time of global uncertainty, it’s even more important for workers to have the confidence that the gains they’ve been making over the last three years continue. We do not need Peter Dutton importing more of that uncertainty here. Continue reading...