Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today's announcement of the 3.75 per cent rise in the minimum wage is very much welcomed by this government. This means over $33 more in workers' pockets every week, because we want you to earn more.

This increase means that the minimum wage has risen more under this government in two years than it did under the former government in an entire decade. It means around $140 every week in the pockets of 2.6 million Australian workers on the minimum wage, compared to before we were elected. But then we do recall former senator Mathias Cormann saying the quiet thing out loud and admitting that keeping the wages of Australians low was part of their economic model. So they clearly weren't on the side of wage-earning Australians.

We want to get wages moving again and, since we were elected, full-time retail workers have more than an extra $102 a week in their pocket; cleaners, $103 more a week; hairdressers $106 more a week; and aged-care workers, $200 more a week in their pocket. But wait, there's more, because, as of 1 July, every Australian taxpayer will get a tax cut, and, unlike the proposed stage 3 tax cuts under those opposite, the Labor government's tax cuts don't leave behind those on low incomes and those on the minimum wage. Every taxpayer will get a tax cut. Eighty-five per cent of Boothby taxpayers will be better off. This government wants you to earn more and keep more of what you earn.

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