Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. What is the Albanese government doing to get wages moving again after a decade of low wage growth?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Corangamite for the question, particularly today. Members might not know that when the member for Corangamite was the mayor of Surf Coast Shire it became the first employer in the world to establish family and domestic violence leave. So, it's a real pleasure to receive that question, particularly today.

The question asks about getting wages moving again, and it matters, because we've had a decade of wages being deliberately kept low. When you look at the inflation figures that are coming out now, imagine how much worse it would have been for people right now had the government not already acted to get the minimum wage moving. There are three parts of what the government will be doing to get wages moving. The first is the formal processes under the Fair Work Act, the second is closing loopholes and the third will be to reinvigorate enterprise bargaining.

The first of those formal processes was to participate in the annual wage review. We remember hearing that the sky would fall if we advocated for the improvement, but there are now workers all around Australia who are being paid more than they would have been paid because they now have a government fighting for their wages to get moving. But the formal processes don't stop there. It won't be too long before the government is making a submission on the review of aged-care workers' wages, where we'll be supporting a wage increase there. The third area where formal processes need to be looked at is that we need to legislate to be able to make sure the formal processes can deliver pay equity, and our pay equity reforms will be coming as well.

The second area, though, is the loopholes. A whole lot of loopholes have appeared in the act that have never been closed. We get a loophole in the tax act, we come in here—there's a TLA bill at the moment—and we close them really quickly. But, for a decade, when there was a loophole that caused wages to go down it was just left here. So, we'll be acting on the gig economy. We'll be acting on the way labour hire is being used with the 'same job, same pay' principle. In that area I'm looking very closely at the unilateral termination of agreements where people, when they're voting on a new agreement, aren't simply voting on whether or not they get a pay increase but are potentially voting on whether their dollar rate of pay immediately could go backwards if there's a unilateral cancellation of agreements.

Finally, we all know that the best period for getting wages moving with productivity improvements is when bargaining is at its best. The Prime Minister has put enterprise bargaining squarely on the table for the jobs summit and will be looking closely there for where consensus is available and also where good ideas are put forward. We need to get wages moving again and, after a decade of them being stagnant, it's time for that to happen.

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Treasurer. Today the Treasurer told us he painted a picture. How much will painting that picture reduce the prices of the essential goods and services Australians are buying every day?

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

I want to begin this answer with a little bit of advice for the member for Hume. Member for Hume, when these geniuses write you a question which has something to do with energy prices, you should say, 'Thanks, but no thanks.' Mate, I would be happy if you asked me 11 questions a day about the energy market, because every single member of this House knows, and the people of Australia know, that the member for Hume, as the energy minister, is more responsible than anyone for the last decade of energy policy failures, which have driven up the cost of energy. If the member wants to ask me about inflation in this economy, he could at least fess up to the fact that he knew before the election that electricity prices were about to go up by around 20 per cent, but he sat on that information. He didn't tell the Australian people about that.

This is the political and economic equivalent of the arsonist whinging about the firefighters taking too long—those opposite asking us about inflation when their record is of almost a decade now of making all the problems in our economy worse rather than better. It takes a lot of nerve to ask a question about the cost of living. The member for Hume, wanting to talk about his record earlier today, wrecked the energy market, he rorted the budget and now he wants to get his hands on the Australian economy.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Has the Treasurer concluded his answer? Manager of Opposition Business, resume your seat. The Treasurer has answered the question.