Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Wages growth has never been lower under any other Prime Minister. Australians are struggling with costs of living. Their out-of-pocket health costs are going up and up, out-of-pocket childcare costs are increasing for at least one in four Australian families, and, of course, power bills are going up and up. Why, under this Prime Minister, does everything go up, except people's wages?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a matter of recent financial information from the Treasury, the average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adults increased by one per cent to $1,585 in the six months to May 2008, to be 2.7 per cent higher through the year. This is the highest through-the-year growth rate since November 2014. There is more work to be done, but we are seeing the results of a stronger economy and more jobs. More demand for labour is creating skill shortages, as the Reserve Bank governor observed the other day. We're starting to see wages increases, and they are reflected in the numbers.

But I note the Leader of the Opposition has talked about the take-home pay of Australian workers. And we want Australians to keep more of the money they earn. In that case, why is he opposing us bringing down electricity prices? Why does he want Australians to pay more for electricity? Why did he oppose lower income taxes for every working Australian? Why is he opposing pay rises for workers by opposing tax relief for Australian businesses? Why did he oppose our new childcare subsidy that gives a typical family $1,300 more support for each child each year?

And why, when he was a union leader, did he spend his time trading away penalty rates in order to put workers at a disadvantage in return for support from their employers? Why did he turn a blind eye to the big unions that bankroll the Labor Party, while slashing the pay of Australia's lowest-paid workers? Why did he deny 7,400 workers a pay rise last year, when he chose to play political games and block a government bill that would have ensured those workers received a pay rise? Why did he oppose our multinational tax legislation, which cracks down on tax avoidance? Why, if he's so concerned about hardworking Australian families, did he oppose our corrupting benefits legislation, which cracks down on secret deals, of the kind he used to be very good at, between unions and big business? Why is he seeking to impose over $200 billion in higher taxes on Australian families, targeted at low-income families, including, perhaps most shamefully of all, those self-funded retirees who would be stripped of up to 30 per cent of their income by this shameless, high-taxing Labor leader, were he ever to be Prime Minister.

Ms Burney interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Barton will cease interjecting.