A business owner who labelled workers ‘lazy’ has slammed the Albanese government over plans to raise the minimum wage, claiming it will force companies to close.
Labor made a submission to the Fair Work Commission on Wednesday urging an ‘economically sustainable real wage increase’ to workers on award and minimum wages.
While they did not clarify a set dollar or percentage increase, the government advocates for an increase in ‘real’ wages – a percentage rise above the inflation rate.
But 29-year-old entrepreneur Allen Fu slammed the decision, saying small business owners are already struggling in the current economic climate.
‘Forcing employers to go through compulsory pay rises is going to hurt a lot of small businesses,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘For a lot of cases, when they hit that three to five employee mark, a lot of the owners actually make less than their staff.
‘I know for a fact that when we were growing our business, when we hired our first hires, they were making more money than I took home every year.’
He described how once companies begin to make $10million in revenue, they are stable but before then, he said ‘everything, every day is like a war zone’.
Sydney-based entrepreneur Allen Fu (pictured) warned that forcing through a compulsory pay rises is going to hurt many small businesses
The Albanese government’s bid is part of an election pitch that would mean a pay rise for three million low-paid workers including retail staff, early childhood educators and cleaners.
The Budget forecast a 2.5 per cent inflation rate this year and 3.0 per cent next year, so Labor is pushing for wage rises above that level.
But it denies that pay rises will trigger more inflation, even though Reserve Bank governor Michelle Bullock warned this week that wage inflation loomed as a factor preventing any more interest rate cuts.
Mr Fu runs four companies from Sydney, three of which he defines as small businesses, and has questioned where the government thinks employers can find money for a wage increase.
‘How does that make sense, where there’s a decrease in productivity, decrease in skill set, but an increase in wage?’ he said.
‘In this political climate, it’s either you support the business owners or you support the employees.
‘That’s where the battle is really going to lie moving forward into the election.’
In 2023, Mr Fu slammed Australian workers as ‘lazy’, ‘expensive’ and ‘entitled’ and decided to double down on the comments.
The Labor government made a submission to the Fair Work Commission urging an ‘economically sustainable real wage increase’ to workers’ pay (stock image)
He said a fellow entrepreneur had chosen to take his business offshore ‘because Australian staffing is too expensive’.
‘What we noticed was people are bringing entry level skill-set and experience, and expecting manager-level pay and that was crazy,’ Mr Fu said.
‘In Australia, we’re probably one of the highest paying [countries] but, in terms of work ethic, it is probably one of the lowest that I’ve seen.’
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also waded into the debate saying it would support a wage increase but ‘no more than 2.5 per cent is fair’.
‘To be sustainable, any increase in wages must be linked to productivity,’ chief executive officer Andrew McKellar said.
‘Yet, labour productivity has been contracting, down 1.2 per cent in 2024 and averaging near zero over the past five years.
‘Failure to align wages growth with genuine productivity improvements risks exacerbating economic challenges and will rekindle inflationary pressure.’
