Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

a $100 billion turnaround in just one year.

After a decade of flat wages, it is a good thing that real wages have increased for three quarters in a row—three consecutive quarters of real wage growth. Those opposite, of course, will once again oppose any increase in the minimum wage. Well, that's not this government's position. The government's position is that people who are on the minimum wage shouldn't fall behind, and our submission this week will be consistent with that. When, during the election campaign, as the minister said, I was asked, 'Should lower-paid workers keep up with the pace of inflation?' I answered in a single word: 'Absolutely.' What those opposite did was run a campaign for about five days saying that the sky would fall in, the economy would collapse, whereas what we are actually seeing is real wages increasing and inflation moderating at the same time, as is unemployment, of course. They had other figures they hated last week when unemployment hit 3.7 per cent.

It's not just about the wages that people earn. We want people to earn higher wages, but we want people to keep more of what they earn. That is what our tax cuts on 1 July will do. For people on those low minimum wages—all 13.6 million of them—there'll be $800 more in their pocket as a result of this government's policy. Under those opposite, they would have got nothing.

This morning Senator Hume—in a battle of the economic titans between Senator Hume and the member for Hume—was out there criticising us, saying, 'The Labor government wants minimum wages to go higher as a cost-of-living measure.' You bet we do!

See this speech in context