Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The government's own budget papers forecast a cut to real wages over the next four years. For a construction worker, that amounts to a cut in real wages of around $8,300. How do you rack up a trillion dollars of debt yet still cut workers' wages?

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

The only cuts this government is engaged in is cutting people's taxes. That's what we're engaged in. As I said before, if you're on $40,000, since 2018-19 you would have saved $3,080 in tax. That's putting more—

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

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business, on a point of order?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On direct relevance. The question goes to the cut in wages that is forecast in the budget. The Prime Minister is not being relevant to that. He should explain, or defend in whatever way he wants, the cut to workers' wages that's in the budget.

A government member interjecting—

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

Members on my right! I hear the interjection about net wages. The question wasn't about net wages. So it can't be about tax policy for the rest of the answer. It was a very specific question. The Prime Minister needs to be relevant to the question. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

As the budget papers reveal, what we can see is that nominal wages increase out over the forward estimates. What I know is that, as those wages do increase, Australians will be paying less tax on those wages, because our government is keeping taxes low. Those opposite want to repeal the tax cuts that we legislated after the last election.

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

I'd just say to the Prime Minister that the answer can't be about tax policy. You've had a compare and contrast. The Prime Minister needs to be relevant to the question. The Treasurer.

Opposition members interjecting—

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

I made my point.

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

Mr Speaker, as I said to the House yesterday, CPI is higher in 2021 because it was coming off negative inflation the year prior because of particular initiatives that we undertook during COVID to cushion the blow for Australian households, including free child care, and there were lower rents and cheaper petrol. That saw the steepest quarterly fall in the consumer price index in the previous year. That therefore means that the CPI is higher than the wages price index is.

Real wages are higher today than in Labor's last year in office, underemployment is the lowest in seven years, and we've also seen youth unemployment the lowest in 12 years. The Prime Minister is absolutely right: if you want Australians to keep more of their hard-earned money, you need to support our tax cuts which we have legislated through the parliament.