Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's always quite exasperating when we debate issues on the economy to hear what those opposite have to say. I wish that they had discovered their concern for workers during the last decade instead of now, only after having been voted out of government, quite rightly, by the Australian people. I wish that we could really take this new-found concern seriously, because, frankly, I would like nothing more than for this country than to have a parliament in which all of its members think that workers should have decent wages to spend in their community and that we should initiate projects that will act as an economic stimulus, such as the National Reconstruction Fund. But unfortunately, I don't believe there is any genuine concern from those opposite about the plight facing these communities, because, if it were real, they would vote for the very sensible measures we have put forward in this parliament.

We know that the Labor government inherited an economy defined by a decade of stagnant wages, flatlining productivity, weak business investment, skills shortages and energy policy chaos. It is up to us, as a Labor government, to fix the mess that those opposite left behind. I remember very distinctly standing with the Prime Minister in Box Hill during the election campaign when he was asked whether he supported a wage increase for the lowest paid workers in our country, and he said absolutely—

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