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'Just the beginning': PM pledges more after wage rise

The Fair Work Commission has handed down an inflation-beating increase to the minimum wage of 5.2 per cent, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promising it is "just the beginning".

The decision equates to a $40 weekly pay rise for millions of workers.

Since 2021, Australia's minimum wage had been $20.33 an hour or $772.60 a week, but advocate groups have called for it to raise to meet the demands of soaring inflation.

READ MORE: Investors hoping for Australian sharemarket rebound after horror day

That will now rise to $21.38 an hour, or $812.60 a week.

Casual employees covered by the national minimum wage also get at least a 25 per cent casual loading.

The federal government had called for a 5.1 per cent wage rise, in line with inflation, but business groups warned against such a rise.

Albanese said the FWC's decision had justified Labor's stance during the federal election campaign.

"They deserved a pay rise, and today they got it," he said.

He also fended off suggestions the wage rise would unfairly burden small businesses.

"Those small businesses really rely on their workers, who are really struggling with the cost of living," he said.

"It's a dollar an hour."

He said the central issue of the debate was about whether people on the minimum wage should receive a "real-wage cut", if they received a pay increase smaller than the rate of inflation.

On Twitter, Albanese said it was "just the beginning".

https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1536899297777623040

FWC President Ian Ross cited the sharp increase in cost of living, along with rising inflation, as key reasons behind the decision.

"We accept that the approach we have adopted will result, albeit minor, compression in relativities," he said.

"But that consideration is to be balanced against the need to provide greater relief to low-paid workers in the context of rising cost of living pressures."

He said the strength of the labour market would not have a "significant adverse effect" on the national economy.

READ MORE: Federal politicians get a pay rise

"We acknowledge that the increases we have determined will mean a real wage cut for some award-reliant employees," he said.

"This is an issue that can be addressed in subsequent reviews."

Awards in the aviation, tourism and hospitality sectors will not have to incorporate the new wage rises until October 1 due to "exceptional circumstances.

All other modern awards will have to include the increase from July 1.

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus said she was "very happy" with the outcome.

"We think it is going to make a significant difference to the pressures that low paid workers are under with cost of living rising," she said.

But she called for more widespread wage increase, claiming businesses had been seeing increased profits.

READ MORE: 'Scorched earth' tactics push Ukrainian troops back from key city

"This Annual Wage Review is one tool we have to generate wage growth, but it only affects one in four workers – we need wage growth across the economy," she said.

"It is not acceptable that working Australians and their families continue to go backwards while big business does so well."

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Andrew McKellar claimed the increase posed a "very significant risk" to the economy.

"By our calculations, this will add $7.9 billion in costs to the affected businesses over the year ahead, so that will be a very considerable burden that those businesses will either have to take to their bottom line, or pass onto their customers," he said.

"It comes at a time when inflation is emerging as one of the most urgent challenges facing the Australian economy and if we are to address that, if we are to remain competitive, then, clearly, this is not a decision that will help in those circumstances."

Currently inflation is sitting at a 20-year high of 5.1 per cent, with Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe predicting inflation will reach 7 per cent by the end of the year.

The FWC reviews Australia's minimum wage on a yearly basis.

Last year it was increased by 2.5 per cent to meet the rising cost in living expenses.

Prior to this year's federal election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed to supporting an increase in line with rising inflation.

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Russia making more on fossil fuels now than before the war

Russia has made more money from the sale of fossil fuels since the war on Ukraine began than in peacetime, new research has found.

The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air found Russia made more on coal, oil and gas exports in February than in January, and even more in March.

While Russia has been hit with heavy sanctions, it has still found a ready market for the fossil fuels, which account for most of its exports.

READ MORE: Putin foe Navalny 'disappears' in Russian prison system

Vladimir Putin's Russia is still selling fossil fuels for more than it did before the war began.

Most of those exports were sold to the EU, which bought $86 billion of oil, gas and coal in the first 100 days of the war.

China, Turkey and India were other big buyers.

The war in Ukraine has created a profitable paradox for Russia.

READ MORE: 'Scorched earth' tactics push Ukrainian troops back from key city

A Russian tank rolls past the wreckage of a car in Ukraine.

It has been forced to sell its oil at a discount because of sanctions – but the rise in global prices because of the Ukraine war has meant it is still making far more than it did last year.

And despite the sanctions, most Russian oil is being transported to its markets on ships owned by EU nations, plus the UK and Norway.

Major companies buying Russian fossil fuels since the war began include Exxon, Shell, Total and Repsol.

READ MORE: Russia 'flattening everything' in effort to win key battle of Donbas

Europe's appetite for Russian fossil fuel has drawn the ire of former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Schwarzenegger lambasted Europe via video link to a conference in Vienna.

"The 1300 missiles that Russia launched into Ukrainian cities during the first two months of the war cost 7.7 billion euros ($11.63 billion)," he said.

"But during that same time Europe sent to Russia 44 billion euros ($66 billion) for fuel."

READ MORE: Russia is now in control of much of Severodonetsk

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Despite growing up in Austria, he addressed the conference in English.

"So of course the Russians are upset, that they're losing all their soldiers and they're losing so many of their equipment, and the tanks and the planes and all of that stuff," he said.  

"But they're saying, 'Hey, at least we don't have to pay for this war. The Europeans are sending us the money.'"

"No matter how you look at it we have blood on our hands, because we are financing the war."

The war on Ukraine appears to have turned in Russia's favour in recent weeks, with substantial territorial gains made in the east of the country.

Russian artillery is inflicting heavy losses on Ukrainian troops and doing immense damage to cities like the besieged Sievierodonetsk.