Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, share the member for Banks's interest in numbers. Let me give him some numbers: five additional ministries that his former Prime Minister decided to swear himself into; and 22 attempts at an energy policy. I think it's particularly galling that the member for Hume, the former Minister for Energy, was the one who rose today to talk about this matter of public importance, because, when it came to an energy policy, the member for Hume as the Minister for Energy had more tries than the NRL season!

I want to thank those opposite for the opportunity to talk about what the Albanese Labor government is doing to address cost-of-living pressures. We are doing it in a fiscally responsible way that is ensuring that we also lift productivity, because that's the responsible approach when you are in a challenging economic environment where you have a trillion dollars of debt, low productivity and increasing inflation—all thanks to those opposite.

In just six short months, we have passed legislation to make child care cheaper. That is going to benefit more than 1.2 million families, including 7,800 families in my electorate of Reid. We have passed legislation to make medicines cheaper for millions of Australians from 1 January next year. The maximum general co-payment will drop from $42.50 to $30—the first time we've seen a price drop in the 75-year history of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Someone taking two or three medications a month could save between $300 and $450 a year.

The other critical measure is one that those opposite are allergic to talking about, and that is increasing wages. On this side of the House, we support wage rises. I want to talk about what that means. When my parents came to this country 45 years ago, they spoke very little English and had little formal education, but they were able to build a life for themselves here and, within five years of arriving in this country, they were able to buy a modest home. While some of their success can be attributed to their hard work, it can also be attributed to the jobs that they were able to get and the wages that they were able to earn. They had good jobs with good pay. My dad worked in a factory making car parts, and my mum worked in a factory making telephone handsets. But, had they arrived in this country four decades later, I wonder: would they have been able to thrive? Given their limited English and qualifications, would they have been able to find well-paying jobs? Unlikely.

That's because, under the previous coalition government, wages were kept deliberately low. It was a feature of their economic strategy. It was so ingrained in their psyche that they refused to back a wage increase in line with inflation for our lowest paid workers. However, when now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked if he would back a 5.1 per cent increase in the minimum wage, he said simply and unequivocally: 'Absolutely.'

That's what you get when you have a prime minister who is on the side of workers, because on this side of the House we will back our lowest paid workers. They are our childcare workers, aged-care workers, disability workers and essential workers, and they deserve our support. We will back them because they have been doing jobs that are tough and challenging but incredibly important to this country, like our aged-care workers, who are looking after our most elderly.

To those opposite: if you are serious about addressing cost-of-living pressures then back the secure jobs, better pay bill. It's a bill that will get wages moving, reinvigorate the enterprise bargaining system and allow Australians to meet those rising cost-of-living pressures, because we, on this side of the House, know that good wages are fundamental to helping families get by. It's not too late to get on board. To those opposite who want to talk about this and who think that this is important, I say: get on board and back the secure jobs, better pay bill.

See this speech in context