Mr. Gerry Light:

I will attempt to answer all of the questions. The Senator spoke first about the responsibility of employers. Employers are very good at telling us what is not their responsibility.

As we argue in the submission, it is about time that employers stepped up to the plate and told us what they are responsible for. It is not too big a call to ask them to create the best possible secure employment that they can on the cusp of a recovering economy. That was clearly enshrined in our submission.

I know my colleagues will pick up on other points in respect of current thresholds in place. Over the course of the past week, the low pay commission has come into vogue with respect to whether it would be appropriate to increase the statutory minimum wage. The model is that if any movement is to be achieved, it would be done with an evidence-based process. From the Mandate perspective, I share the views of the relevant Minister and we have an aspiration for the wage to be increased appropriately at the earliest possible time.

With regard to the relationship between a living wage and a minimum wage and whether both can be enshrined in legislation, there is nothing wrong with being able to demonstrate clearly how this can done, as it has been quite recently by groups such as Vincentian Partnership. It demonstrated what it takes to have a basic standard of living which allows a person and family to exist in a society. Society means nothing if a person cannot live in a very basic form within it. The movement in this respect is important and we keep this as a clear aspiration. We are moving on a very deliberate path towards the creation of a living wage.

I am confident my colleagues will pick up the other issues I have not addressed. There is no danger in having a minimum wage and seeking to increase it in an appropriate and timely fashion. We have had the current legislation for a number of years, which has a clear provision for employers to be able to argue inability-to-pay clauses. I ask members to consider the number of cases which have come before a court sustaining that argument. There have been very few, and one could count them on the fingers on one hand. That tells us much. There is much bluff and bluster about whether we should have a minimum wage and if it should be increased. This is an evidence-based process so if a business can prove it cannot pay the minimum wage, it can make a case. Very few of them do that.