The government has announced a miserly increase in the minimum wage, from $12.75 to $13 an hour. While any increase is better than nothing, this is half the rate of inflation: a 2% increase vs a 4% rise in the CPI. So despite National's spin, the poorest-paid workers are going backwards under their government.
I've put in an OIA request for all advice Kate Wilkinson received on the increase and the alternatives she considered. It will be interesting to see whether inflation was considered, and whether she deliberately and callously decided to impoverish the very workers she as Minister of Labour should be protecting.
