Given the years of wage stagnation plaguing low-wage Australian workers, Brendan O’Connor, a Labor employment spokesperson, has announced that the party will be working towards establishing industry-wide collective bargaining as the nationwide norm as opposed to enterprise-level bargaining. This change was proposed by Labor in January, with leaders supporting the shift of the minimum wage towards a living wage in order to support low-wage workers who have been struggling as the average Australian household is making less real income than it did in 2013. After the Australian Council of Trade Unions began its Change the Rules campaign, government attention was forced onto the issue of the country’s consistent low wage growth, which industry-level bargaining will hopefully address.
See "Labor plans industrial relations changes to boost wages for low-paid workers", Paul Karp, The Guardian, March 1, 2018