Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Newcastle—someone who's always been fighting to get wages moving in her part of Australia. In the first six months of this government, we have had stronger wage growth than in any other period for the last 10 years. Now, why would it be over the last 10 years? What possibly needed to change, in order to get wages moving? It was the government that needed to change to get wages moving.

Getting wages moving is good for the cost of living and it's good for working families. And it's been good for the budget. Forty per cent of the turnaround in finances, as has been explained by the Treasurer, is caused by employment and wages outcomes—40 per cent of the improvements in revenue.

Now, those opposite wanted to use terms like 'drover's dog' in terms of turnaround in revenue. As to what's happened with wages, in their approach to wages they were more like my rescue greyhound: they'd run around for five minutes in the morning and then sleep the rest of the day! And they'd do nothing on wages, because keeping wages low was a deliberate design feature.

To get wages moving requires action from a government, which is exactly what the Albanese Labor government has done. Wages are moving because we took the position we did at the annual wage review.

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