Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. What actions have the government and the parliament taken to get wages moving?

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 her question and for her dedication to getting wages moving for working people in this country. We said that we'd act to get wages moving and we have delivered. We said that we would act on the annual wage review. Those opposite said the sky would fall in. Workers, as a result of the award system around the country, are now being paid more as a result of the action that the government took.

We said that we would act on the aged-care review. Those opposite, when they were in government, said the government shouldn't even make a submission saying that aged-care workers deserve a pay rise. This government said that we should. We did, and we've had the first part of the decision from the commission backing a wage increase for people who work in the aged-care sector.

But we've also argued that you need to change the law to get wages moving. Those opposite delayed for 10 years while they deliberately tried to keep wages low. In the Senate right now they are continuing to try to delay getting wages moving with the secure jobs, better pay bill. There are 19 amendments to be debated in the Senate—19 amendments that have been put forward. In nine hours of debate, because of the behaviour of, principally, Senator Cash, how many amendments do you think the Senate's got through?

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How many?

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Zero.

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

Zero! In nine hours! So you might want to do the maths on how likely they are to delay this, how long they'll try to keep this going. In nine hours of debate, those opposite are doing everything they can—as if 10 years of delay wasn't enough—to delay every extra minute, every extra hour they possibly can.

Well, this government's view is that 10 years of delay is long enough. People should not have to wait longer for gender equality to be an objective of the Fair Work Act. People should not have to wait longer for the sunsetting of agreements that have been in place since the WorkChoices era. People should not have to wait longer for a bargaining system that works and gets wages moving. People should not have to wait longer for the banning of pay secrecy clauses. People should not have to wait longer for it to be illegal to advertise a job for less than the legal minimum wage.

Those opposite dedicated 10 years to keeping wages deliberately low. Once secure jobs, better pay goes through, we will have getting wages moving as a deliberate design feature of this government.