Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Can he confirm that, after eight long years of wages going nowhere, they are now actually going backwards?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. Nominal wages improved over the course of the budget in the forward estimates. We will have some aberrant figures on inflation this current year and next year, but wages will continue to improve in this country so long as the economic settings continue to be right, we continue to back Australians, we secure Australia's recovery through this budget and we continue to put Australians in work. When you put Australians into work, that tightens the labour market and supports wages. I will ask the Treasurer to add to the answer.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a bit cheeky to get a question from the Labor Party on real wages when they were falling when they were last in office and fell over in 2013. Budget Paper No. 1, on page 61, says the following:

… consumers have maintained purchasing power with real wages growth in line with the 10-year average.

We know that, under this government, real wages growth is higher, the unemployment rate is lower, the gender pay gap has been closing and more Australians are in work than ever before.

Mr Stephen Jones interjecting—

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

The member for Whitlam!

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This has meant that household income has continued to grow in every quarter, despite the greatest economic shock since the Great Depression.

Ms Coker interjecting—

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

The member for Corangamite!

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is up 4.8 per cent over the year. Under this government, unemployment is now lower than when we came to government. Unemployment, after the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression, is now lower than when we came to government.

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

The Treasurer can just pause for one second. Have your concluded your answer? Yes. Before I call the next question: there is continual interjection. I haven't used 94(a) so far this week. I am just going to make very clear again that, if I have mentioned your name and you interject again, you will be ejected.

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Will the Deputy Prime Minister inform the House how the Morrison-McCormack government is securing our future by investing in the infrastructure across regional Australia that will make our roads safer and save lives?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lyne for his question and acknowledge his advocacy not just for his community but indeed for the road safety outcomes of Lyne and, indeed, regional Australia right across the nation as well. He knows full well how important this is. He has worked tirelessly in his community to get the Harrington Road intersection in Coopernook, on the Pacific Highway, upgraded. This $60 million project involves the construction of a full-grade separated interchange. This will make the road safer for all who use it. In conjunction with the state government we now are fixing it, and it will be finished by 2024.

Local community members were very pleased with the announcement, as the member for Lyne knows. Michael Parson said: 'Just the best news to wake up to'—he probably also listens to Moffee in the Morning!—'We have been lobbying for this for a long time now. Many lives will be potentially saved.' Councillor Kathryn Bell said: 'Excellent news. The Harrington community and motorists will be pleased. There may be dancing in the streets.' The infrastructure rollout is about making travelling around our great country safer, including, particularly, regional Australia.

We have added another $1 billion to the road safety 'use it or lose it' program. These works include rumble strips, shoulder sealing, upgraded school-zone signage, separated cycleways, median and run-off barriers, raised pedestrian crossings, resurfacing, better road markings and the clearing of vegetation near the road—as well as those all-important audio tactile line markings. They're the things you'll hear if you stray slightly out of your lane: foomp, foomp, foomp, foomp, foomp. If you're going fast, it's foomp-foomp-foomp-foomp-foomp! That's what they do! And they save lives—I hear the member for Rankin—they actually do save lives. It's so important.

I was travelling on the Newell the other day and they were laying those lines, not just in the daytime but at night-time too. It's creating work for local councils. It's creating work for local small businesses. It's creating opportunities and local procurement—and it's all part of the $110 billion infrastructure rollout across the nation over the next decade. The budget that Treasurer Frydenberg announced on Tuesday night facilitated an additional $15.2 billion of works, creating the opportunities for an additional 30,000 workers, already there's 100,000 workers, as part of the overall 10-year plan, because the government—the Liberals and Nationals—have a plan. We've got a plan for infrastructure. We've got a plan for a more secure future out of the pandemic. It has been very, very difficult. We all know that. It has been very, very challenging, but I commend the member for Lyne for his advocacy for infrastructure and particularly for getting the Newcastle airport off the ground. (Time expired)

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

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer admit what the cut in real wages contained in his own budget actually means for Australian workers—that their bills will go up, but their pay won't keep up?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What will hit the wages of the Australian people is the higher taxes from the Labor Party! That is what will hit the wages of the Australian people. As I said to the House yesterday, in the budget there is a forecast that inflation will reach 3½ per cent in the middle of this year. That is above the wage growth of 1¼ per cent that is forecast, but the higher inflation number for the year is off the back of, in the previous year, negative 0.3 per cent. It was the first time in 60 years that we'd seen such a negative number, but, as I said recently to the House, the reality is that, under this government, real wages growth is higher, unemployment is lower, the gender pay gap has been narrowing and there are more Australians in work than ever before.

In this budget, delivered on Tuesday night, we cut the taxes of low- and middle-income earners. More than 10 million low- and middle-income earners received a tax cut as a result of the measures supported by the Morrison government and announced in Tuesday night's budget. We also put in tax incentives for businesses right around the country. Our policies are to drive taxes lower, to enable Australians to keep more of their hard-earned money. The Labor Party stands for higher spending and higher taxes.