Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was very pleasantly surprised to see the newly minted—or perhaps recast—Senator Sharma make some insightful economic reflections in his first speech to the Senate last week. Senator Sharma highlighted that a 'rapid redistribution of national income' had seen labour's share of national income shrink. Senator Sharma concluded his economic analysis by saying:

Big businesses have gained; workers and small businesses have lost.

Perhaps since Senator Sharma was gifted an opportunity for reflection by the member for Wentworth he has come to realise that the Liberal economic legacy of suppressed wages, the worst decade for productivity in 50 years and a trillion dollars of Liberal debt have left the Australian people worse off.

While Senator Sharma's analysis is likely the most insightful contribution a Liberal has made to the debate, it is sadly unlikely that his economic come-to-Jesus moment will move the needle of economic sense in his decrepit party room.

While the Albanese Labor government is delivering cost-of-living tax cuts and supporting wage increases, the Liberals opposite have demonstrated their desperation to suppress wages even from the opposition benches. They opposed increases to the minimum wage; they opposed our secure jobs, better pay bill; they opposed closing the casual and labour hire loopholes; and they vowed to roll back Labor's cost-of-living tax cuts.

The Albanese Labor government is ensuring that working people earn more and keep more of what they earn, while the Liberals opposite just want people to work longer for less.

See this speech in context