The rise in aged care workers’ pay is going to cost $11.3 billion when the pay raise comes into effect in July. We’ve known this pay raise was coming since last November when the Fair Work Commission ruled the 250,000 workers in the sector should get a 15% pay rise – a ruling that was advocated for by the Albanese Government. The July increase will mean that some aged care workers get a boost of $10,000 per year, which Aged Care Minister Anika Wells called a “historic and deserved pay rise for a workforce undervalued for far too long”. The hope is the bump will attract 10,000 new workers into the sector. And in the latest pre-Budget information drop, reports this morning say there will be more funding for our Pacific neighbours for more environmental, military, and economic support. The ABC says the package will total “hundreds of millions of dollars, and likely to top $1 billion, over the next 4 years.”