ACTU secretary Sally McManus says low-paid workers should keep pushing for wage rises that match inflation, claiming that the rising cost of living is being driven by profits, not pay increases, and that warnings of a 1970s-style wage price spiral are “total Boomer fantasy”.

Dismissing the Reserve Bank of Australia’s view that wage increases should be kept to 3.5 per cent to help lower inflation, Ms McManus said wages were not a risk in the modern era devoid of centralised wage-fixing.