Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Prime Minister. What steps has the government taken to deliver on its commitment to get wages moving again?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Chisholm very much for her question. On one of my favourite days of the election campaign, I was with the member for Chisholm when I was asked if I supported a pay rise of a dollar for people who were on the minimum wage. On that day I said, 'Absolutely, absolutely.' The response of the then government was that that was loose. They said it was irresponsible to support a pay increase for those Australian heroes of the pandemic, those people who are on the minimum wage and who were looking after Australians during that pandemic.

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

The member for Mitchell will cease interjecting.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They said: 'No, no, we can't have a dollar increase, not a dollar an hour, because that will ruin the economy. The sky will fall.' That was a decade of low wages under those opposite being used as a deliberate design feature of economic policy. But we on this side of the House are getting wages moving again.

One of the first things we did, of course, was to make a submission to the Fair Work Commission saying that those people who are on the minimum wage deserve not to go backwards. The Fair Work Commission granted an increase of 5.2 per cent, more than the then inflation rate of 5.1 per cent. On Friday there was further good news because the Fair Work Commission granted aged-care workers a 15 per cent wage rise. When I was asked whether I welcomed that, I said, 'Absolutely.' Those opposite presided over a growing crisis in aged care but had contempt for those workers in aged care who worked under such critical circumstances during the pandemic in particular. They are heroes of the pandemic and they deserve more than our thanks. They deserve a pay rise, and that was something that was acknowledged by the Fair Work Commission.

On the weekend, on the Sunshine Coast, I met with Deb and Glenn. They told me how much this pay rise means to them. They're aged-care workers who go to work, who love their work, who love the people they care for.

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

The member for Fairfax will cease interjecting.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They certainly don't do it for the money; they do it for the care of fellow Australians. The fact that those opposite find this somehow a contestable issue, when I am praising aged-care workers who look after our oldest Australians, just shows the contempt they have for older Australians who deserve dignity and respect. This week we'll have a chance with the secure jobs, better pay bill to actually take those principles even further and make sure we have an industrial relations system that works for people. (Time expired)