With all the talk of the current cost-of-living crisis, and the degrees of suffering being experienced by the various social strata that make up Australia, there is a one way to make things slightly fairer from the ground up.
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And even the government's on board with this one - ensuring the real wages of low-paid workers do not go backwards.
The government has submitted to the Fair Work Commission that the tax cuts set to go live on July 1 should be on top of, and not instead of, a minimum wage increase.
And it contends that there has yet to be any sign of a "wage-price spiral", where pay increases have driven up inflation.
A call to raise the minimum wage is an acknowledgement that it is good investment - and not punishment of the worse off - that will help address the types of social issues that we already pay for.
The national minimum wage is currently just over $45,900 a year - about 55 per cent of median full-time earnings.
But despite increases in nominal wages, the real value of award wages has gone down in recent years amidst global inflation.
Previous governments, including the most recent Coalition, have opted to hammer home the mantra of personal responsibility when it comes to low wages, the solution, in the Liberal ethos, being to "have a go" and "get a good job that pays well" as insurance against life's vicissitudes.
Keeping wages down has been, in the words of Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke, a "deliberate design feature" under the Coalition, but that raising the minimum wage will be "an essential part of returning to real wage growth.
But an increase on the minimum wage would target the most disadvantaged, rather than raising wages across the board.
Still, the Reserve Bank of Australia has forecast inflation is expected to return to its target of 2 to 3 per cent in 2025, but predicts that wages will rise faster than inflation, helping to restore some of the real pay workers have lost since 2022.
The Albanese government's submission, to be made on Thursday, is that productivity will remain the primary driver of real wage growth.
Meanwhile, the most recent unemployment figures have fallen further than expected in the past week, to 3.7 per cent last month from 4.1 per cent in January.
The government also contends that, despite recent improvement in the gender pay gap, there remains "a substantial disparity in earnings between men and women".
As women are over-represented in low-paid and award-reliant jobs, a rise in the minimum wage would also decrease the gender pay gap and give more of an incentive to return to the workforce or work more hours.
In this case, being fair will bring only benefits in the long term to the Australian economy.
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The cost-of-living crisis is affecting most, if not all, Australians to varying degrees, but not surprisingly, it's low-paid workers with little to no savings who are the most heavily affected.
A wage increase would be a buffer - albeit a minor one - against rising costs.
In other words, low wage earners will, without a doubt, pump such a wage increase straight back into the economy, used to buy essentials and keep families healthy and safe.
It wouldn't, as some would have it, be frittered away on perceived luxuries.
It would be a case of redistributing funds that we, as taxpayers, are already spending on other measures to prop up our economy, with no one worse off.
