Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

We don't support cutting penalty rates, but we do support an independent arbiter. It's taken 53 questions from those opposite for the member for Rankin to get a question to the Treasurer. Now, the inconvenient truth for those opposite is that when we came to government in 2013 unemployment was at 5.7 per cent. Today I can inform the House that it's at 5.2 per cent. Under Labor, the number of unemployed people increased by around 220,000 people. It's an inconvenient truth for the member for Rankin that when Labor was last in office those on a minimum wage were hit by real wage cuts in three out of six years. And in every year that we've been in government, the minimum wage has gone up. When Labor was last in government, in three out of six years the minimum wage was cut.

In terms of the growth in the national wages bill, which is otherwise known as the compensation of employees, it's 4.3 per cent higher through the year. This compares to 3.2 per cent when Labor was last in office. And, finally, the member for Rankin refers to the Reserve Bank of Australia. Now, in their statement on monetary policy in May of this year, they said:

Some recovery in income growth is likely, because employment growth is expected to remain solid, wages are expected to increase and the tax offset for low- and middle-income taxpayers is set to come into effect in the second half of this year.

That is from the Reserve Bank of Australia. The inconvenient truth for those opposite is that when they were last in government unemployment was higher and more people lost a job. Under us, we're cutting taxes and creating more jobs.

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