Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hawke for this important motion, as it gives me the opportunity to reflect upon our government's record in getting the policy settings on wages moving in the right direction after some very dark times under the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments. Those opposite believe their legacy to be saturated in a non-stick coating when it comes to any form of accountability. To them, it's an art form. Both in this place and in the media, those opposite debate on wages, interest rates, inflation and the economy with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and a cutting edge to match. They go about this debate, particularly during an MPI, as if our economy exists in some Petri dish—a controlled environment that ignores both external economic pressures and any negative consequences of the actions taken when they were in government. Many measures required begging and pleading for them to implement, especially once we'd seen what other developed nations were doing to keep their economies going.

In the afterglow of governments in developed economies spending big, central banks across the world raised interest rates. The RBA did precisely that while those opposite were in government, although they are not so eager to claim credit for any of that. They suddenly appear very humble about their role in this. Why is that? Their conduct in opposition is as hard to swallow as anything you try to drink from a 'back in black' coffee mug—a real collector's item. It's the cognitive dissonance for me. Recently, I heard comments in the media from Senator Hume, as part of a heated debate about inflation, and we saw exactly this: zero liability, total credit for the by-products that contributed to it, and zero credibility.

Their arguments about defining what constitutes good and bad debt or spending were always political, not economic. One government's debt and budget deficits are another's debt and deficit disaster. With those opposite, there are a handful of things you can count on. You can count on them, in government or in opposition, to do everything they can to keep wages down. It's important to note this, as real wage growth takes two to tango—wage growth moving to outpace inflation.

Let's examine what they really think about the wages of everyday Australians going up. For starters, they baked low wage growth into their economic policy. Many of us still vividly remember when the former finance minister—no, not the member for Cook, but Mattias Cormann—accidentally said the quiet part out loud and proudly admitted to low wage growth being not just a reality through the lifespan of their government but, in fact, government policy. I don't know why they are so coy about this now.

Those opposite, when in government—even to the bitter end—had the audacity to attack Labor for standing up for the lowest paid workers in Australia and making submissions to raise the minimum wage. This led to a 5.2 per cent increase to the minimum wage last year, with a further 8.6 per cent increase awarded by the Fair Work Commission earlier this year. Did the opposition consider this to be positive, or did they criticise this as being dangerous and inflationary? I think by now the answer should be obvious. Where were those opposite when the Albanese government moved to lift wages for our workers in aged care? It's a sector with some of the lowest paid workers, a sector that needs more workers today and will need even more workers tomorrow, and a sector that employs thousands of people within my electorate of Spence. However, by listening to members opposite speak on industrial relations over the past few sitting weeks, it is clear that their response to wage raises has been, 'Now is not the time'—every single time. They didn't even have a plan to curb inflation when they saw it rising, and they still don't. This is coupled with a policy on wages growth that can at best be described as Darwinian. They have the gall to complain that real wages aren't rising fast enough when they did nothing to stop inflation creeping steadily higher on their watch, and had their finger on the scale of wage increases during their time in government. Unlike those opposite, an Albanese Labor government pledges strong and sustainable wage growth as a deliberate design feature of our economic plan.

As inflation continues to moderate, our government will continue with our policies on wage growth, doing so alongside sensible cost-of-living relief, all while those opposite continue to play backseat—or maybe backbench—driver. They continue to play politics and offer little other than a rolled-goal assurance that they would have done better somehow.

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