Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I say respectfully to the honourable member that, if we agree that Australians are doing it tough, and I think that we do, it's a bit bizarre that those opposite want people to earn less and they want them to get less help with the cost of living. They didn't want everyone to get a tax cut. They didn't want every household to get energy bill relief. They presided over a decade of deliberate wage stagnation and wage suppression. So those opposite have got to make up their mind. They've got to decide whether they agree that people are doing it tough—we understand that people are doing it especially tough—and they've got to decide whether they want to be part of the problem or part of the solution. Part of the problem would be if they swung the axe at Medicare and pensions and all of the things that they're contemplating in their $315 billion in cuts. That would make things worse rather than better. The Leader of the Opposition has jumped—

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