First, many countries have a higher minimum wage than we do. France, for example, has a minimum wage of $12.09, second only to Australia's, and it has had a horrible time in the global recession. (It's rating was just downgraded.)
Australia's minimum wage doesn't kick in until after age 20 (or rather, that top wage doesn't kick in until then; 16 to 19 year olds have lower minimum wages: http://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/national-minimum-wage/pages/default.aspx/ )
Lastly, Australia's minimum wage is not the highest when compared to the median worker's wage (actually, France's minimum wage is the highest when compared to what the average worker makes).
Interesting article on all this at Wonkblog, in which it says:
The Center for American Progress has proposed setting the minimum wage at half the average wage (mean, not median as used above) for production and non-supervisory workers; at the current level, that means a $10.07 minimum. If we were to adopt France's 60 percent ratio, that'd put us at about $12.08.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/19/the-u-s-has-a-7-25-minimum-wage-australias-is-16-88/
I might add that Australia has one of the most expensive costs of living of any country in the world (behind Norway and Switzerland); the US is relatively way down the list. See:
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp
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