Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Parramatta, who's had a longstanding interest in this and knows full well the job opportunities that emerge when you build skills in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Australian STEM workers are highly sought after not just here but the world over because our training systems, particularly in STEM, are some of the best according to the OECD. Our government highly values STEM workers. We want to grow the STEM workforce. In fact, we want to see 1.2 million Australian workers in tech related jobs by 2030. Importantly we want their salaries and their wages to grow and we want them to keep more of what they earn. That's why we're giving tax cuts to nearly every single STEM worker. In the tech space, for example, an IT worker in Darwin earning $69,000 is up for a $1,404 tax cut, a software engineer in Derrimut in the western suburbs of Melbourne earning $95,000 will get a $2,054 tax cut and a data analyst in Adelaide earning $90,000, will get a $1,929 tax cut.

There is another class of STEM worker who will also benefit. I alluded the other day to a certain strategic consultant who might have been employed by the coalition. I'm not going to go back there, but, if your name's George and you're a marine biologist, then, if you're earning $65,467, you'll earn a tax cut of $1,316—and thanks to the gen Xers who laughed at that one!

Those opposite love to talk up the value of STEM but did nothing to tackle the skills shortages that crippled those firms needing talent. And, just as we address the challenge, while we were pushing for tax cuts to deliver cost-of-living relief, what do we get out of those opposite? Oppose. Support. Criticise. Vote for. The Liberal and National parties called our tax cuts 'an egregious error', and then they voted for them. They called the tax cuts 'regressive', then they voted for them. They called the tax cuts 'small fry', then they voted for them. We come to the part of question time called 'What did the Deputy Leader of the Opposition say?' She went into full Churchillian mode, saying, 'We will fight this legislation in parliament,' then voted for it. After they voted for our tax cuts, they turned around and said, 'It's back to the drawing board.' This is what happens. The coalition—

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