What is economic justice?

Economic justice in Australia is the principle that the country's economic system should produce fair distribution of income, wealth, and opportunity. It covers wages, taxes, social security, industrial relations, market regulation, and the protection of consumers, workers, and small businesses against concentrated economic power.

Several institutional features support economic justice. The federal minimum wage, set each year by the Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review, establishes a wage floor (currently 24.10 dollars per hour from 1 July 2024). Modern awards and enterprise agreements set higher minimums for specific industries and workplaces. The Fair Work Ombudsman investigates underpayment and recovers wages owed. The Australian Taxation Office collects progressive income tax (with marginal rates from 0 per cent up to 45 per cent), the GST, and company tax, redistributing the revenue to fund Medicare, education, social security, and public services.

Market regulation supports economic justice in several specific ways. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) enforces competition law, prohibiting cartels, abuse of market power, and anti-competitive mergers. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) regulates corporate conduct and financial services. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) supervises bank, insurance, and superannuation prudential standards. Together these regulators aim to ensure markets work fairly for consumers, workers, and small businesses.

Economic justice is contested. Australian wealth inequality has grown over recent decades, with the richest 10 per cent of households now holding about 46 per cent of household wealth, up from 39 per cent in 2003. Casualisation, the gig economy, wage theft scandals across multiple industries, and concerns about corporate concentration in supermarkets, banking, and aviation have produced ongoing debate. The 2018 to 2019 Hayne Royal Commission into financial services and the 2024 ACCC inquiry into supermarket competition are examples of responses to specific economic justice failures. The Albanese government's industrial relations reforms since 2022, including the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act and the Closing Loopholes Act, aim to address insecurity, wage theft, and casualisation.