Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Wages grew by 3.7 per cent over the year to the March quarter. That's the fastest growth in over a decade. And 60 per cent of jobs recorded a higher wage rise than the year before. That's the highest proportion on record and around double the pre-pandemic average. We are pleased that wages are moving again and more Australians are seeing the benefits of higher wages, but we do know that many Australians are doing it tough. We need to see inflation moderate to secure that real wages growth we want to see in our economy. That's why our budget and our plan is all about taking the pressure off inflation, and the Reserve Bank governor said yesterday that he believes that it will.

But let's be really clear: we don't have an inflation challenge in our economy because people on the lowest incomes are being paid too much. This side of the House understands that strong and sustainable wages growth is part of the solution to the cost-of-living pressures felt by many Australians and not part of the problem, as those opposite want to pretend. As the Reserve Bank governor said yesterday, nominal wage growth at the moment isn't a problem and nominal wage growth has not been the source of inflation; I want to make that clear. The Treasury secretary made similar comments earlier in the week. He said that there are no signs of a wage-price spiral developing.

Tomorrow the Fair Work Commission will hand down its decision on minimum and award wages, and we will respect whatever decision the independent umpire makes, but the Albanese government will always do what we can to support the wages of workers, particularly the lowest paid workers in our economy. That's why we've supported wage rises for minimum and award wage workers. We've funded pay rises for aged-care workers in the budget, we changed the law to support secure jobs and better pay, we're making it easier for parents to return to work when they want to and we're investing in industries that create secure, well-paid jobs into the future.

Getting wages moving again is a deliberate design feature of the Albanese Labor government. We are proud of the progress that we've made, but we know that we need to do much more to get the real wages growth that people need and deserve in the economy. The contrast couldn't be clearer. Those opposite want lower wages, they want more expensive medicines and they voted for higher energy prices to make the cost-of-living challenge in our economy even worse.

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