☕️ Push to abolish 'junior' pay

I’m bringing back two truths and a lie today. Here are three recent headlines – two are real and one is fake. It’s up to you to choose which one.

Answer is in the tidbit!

“We know that in the past Australia has not been as good a partner, as involved a partner, as we would have liked.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong in an interview on Australia’s relationship with Pacific nations.

$US3 trillion ($AU4.5t)
The value computer-part manufacturer Nvidia reached this week. The tech company overtook Apple to become the world’s second-most valuable company, after Microsoft. Nvidia’s share price has been boosted by its importance to AI software.

1902
Women’s suffrage was achieved in Australia, granting most women the right to vote and run for Parliament in federal elections. It wasn’t until 1962 that First Nations people were granted voting rights.

A new online complaint service in Victoria will target dodgy advertised rentals.

Victorians can now lodge concerns about misleading listings and poor standards in available properties directly to the state’s consumer watchdog, Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV).

The Victorian Government said the complaints form takes about five minutes to complete.

Other State Government efforts to improve conditions for renters include planned caps on rent increases and a total rent bidding ban.

The new online form is targeted at complaints about advertised properties. The service won’t apply to renters wanting to raise issues about their current property.

Complaints could include misleading or inaccurate online listings or properties with minimum living standard breaches like broken appliances or door locks.

Victorians can submit images of a rental property to support their complaint.

CAV will investigate complaints to determine if a property is in breach of Victoria’s rental laws.

Landlords face up to $11,000 for breaches, while real estate agents could be penalised up to $57,000.

Prospective renters and property agents can lodge complaints.

Grievances can also be made anonymously.

The Victorian Government has announced protections for renters as part of its latest housing strategy.

This includes plans to outlaw all forms of rent bidding — a practice property agents and landlords were banned from in 2021.

However, prospective tenants can still offer more money than the advertised rent price to boost their chances of securing a property.

The State Government’s housing strategy also includes plans to restrict the frequency of rent increases for tenants who stay at a property beyond an initial lease agreement.

TDA reached out to the Victorian Opposition but did not receive a comment at the time of publishing.

Two major Australian unions want to abolish junior pay for under-21-year-old workers.

Young employees across the retail, fast food and hospitality industries currently earn below the minimum award wage.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) called lower hourly rates for younger staff “discriminatory”.

A peak business group says the proposal is “unrealistic”, while the Government hasn’t committed to supporting any award changes.

Employees in most industries are subject to “awards” which set out their pay and working conditions.

The Fair Work Commission, the national workplace tribunal, determines these awards.

Currently, adult award minimum wages apply to workers aged 21 and older. Anyone younger gets “junior rates”, a lower hourly rate.

For example, if a 21-year-old gets $29.04 as a waiter, an 18-year-old is paid about $16.04 per hour for the same job.

19-year-old full-time university student Gabbi works casually at a supermarket.

Gabbi told TDA that getting paid less than her older colleagues, “despite being legally recognised” as an adult has broader implications for her savings, social life and health — “physically, mentally and emotionally.”

She said it’s an experience common among “a lot of young workers... especially alongside the cost of living.”

“We might be young, but we are skilled and we deserve fair pay,” Gabbi added.

Overseas models could provide a guide on reforming junior pay awards in Australia.

For example, in New Zealand, 16 to 19-year-olds earn 80% of the minimum wage for the first six months of their job before moving on to the full minimum wage.

Most parts of Canada don’t have lower pay rates for 18-year-olds.

The ACTU has called for junior rates to be scrapped for anyone legally considered an adult.

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus said: “Young people don’t get discounts on their rent or... grocery bills, so why should they get youth wages?”

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) is one of the unions representing retail and fast food workers. National Secretary Gerard Dwyer said 18 to 20-year-olds are adults “in the eyes of the law.”

“They can vote, drink alcohol and join the army — why are they paid as juniors?”

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), the country’s largest business group, said scrapping junior pay rates is “unrealistic”.

ACCI policy chief David Alexander said: “No junior pay rates would make hiring young people far less attractive to businesses.”

“Taking on a worker with minimal experience requires extra risk and extra effort — they do not have the work or life experience that older adults have,” he added.

Employment Minister Tony Burke can request Fair Work reviews of award rates. However, he didn’t indicate if he would callfor a review of junior rates.

Instead, Burke pointed to recent Government efforts to create “secure jobs and better pay”, such as criminalising wage theft, in a statement to TDA.

Shadow Employment Minister Michaelia Cash urged unions and the Government to focus on “proposals which will increase productivity and lead to higher sustainable wage growth.”

The SDA and ACTU have lodged a formal application with the Fair Work Commission, calling for youth rates to be scrapped.

Fair Work will review the application and call on unions, workers, experts, and businesses to give evidence.

A decision isn’t expected until 2025.

Unions across other industries will need to make their own submissions to Fair Work.

How much do you know about pigmentation?

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Everyone has pigmentation and the amount you have determines your natural skin, hair and eye colour.

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Researchers in the UK found a “boosted” gene, containing a type of DNA with increased protein, that causes inflammation and tissue damage in patients with IBD.

This discovery means researchers will hopefully be able to develop a targeted treatment to deactivate the specific gene without negative side effects and ease IBD symptoms.

This is true.

The Marubo people in the Amazon rainforest were connected to the internet in September last year with Musk’s Starlink.

Nine months later The New York Times visited the tribe and found that teenagers won’t get off their phones and many young men are watching adult content.

73-year-old Tsainama Marubo told The New York Times: “Young people have gotten lazy because of the internet. They’re learning the ways of the white people… But please don’t take our internet away.”

This is a lie.

This is true.

A tiger shark was spotted in Queensland regurgitating an echidna. Researchers from James Cook University saw the shark spitting out the creature, which was dead, but fully intact (spikes and all).

Dr Nicolas Lubitz said: “It’s known that Tiger sharks will eat anything… In this case, I think the echidna must have just felt a bit funny in its throat.”

Over the last few weeks, almost two billion people have voted in elections, as part of what some are calling the biggest year for democracy ever.

In today’s deep dive, TDA fact checker Lucy Tassell joins us to recap the biggest elections of the last month and preview what’s next.