The Australian Council of Trade Unions last week called for a 7.2 per cent increase to minimum and award wages. With 60 per cent of women and 42 per cent of men in the LGBTIQ community earning less than $40,000 per year.

This increase would be a significant increase in wages for many LGBTIQ Australians.

Although last year’s report from St George Bank showed that the LGBTIQ community in Australia does, on average, earn 25 per cent more than their straight counterparts, it also outlined the financial costs for this community that negate the higher earnings.

Most LGBTIQ individuals were nearly a third less likely to own their own homes, and those who had managed to enter the property market had a mortgage 41 per cent higher than the straight individuals surveyed, plus there’s further financial strains of expensive medical procedures for many in the trans community, and high assisted reproduction costs for most LGBTIQ individuals hoping to have children.

Dean Arcuri spoke to St George Banks General Manager Ross Miller, about the research they discovered.

This segment of The Informer aired on 19th of March 2018.