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

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Hume proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The collapse of real wages under this Government.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

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

I am absolutely delighted to be speaking on this MPI and delighted that my colleagues supported me on this. I'm disappointed that Labor didn't stand up and support me on this one as they did last week, but the truth is they know that real wages are collapsing under this government, and they don't want to hear us talk about that. We heard them talking a moment ago about disinformation. I tell you what: the disinformation we are getting from the other side on wages is absolutely extraordinary, because, under Labor, real wages are going backwards. Australians are feeling poorer, and that's because they are poorer.

Someone might want to let the Treasurer know. I know he ran for the door. He doesn't want to hear the reality that real wages are going down. We saw yesterday in this chamber and in the press gallery and in the other place the spectacle of the Treasurer, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations spinning a laughable claim that Australians are better off than a year ago. Well, Australians don't feel that way. Is the Treasurer serious? The truth of the matter is that real wages are going down in this country, and the Treasurer on the other side does not want to admit it.

The truth of the matter is that real wages are a function of your wage and what you have to pay for the goods you buy with that wage. You don't get a wage for nothing. You get a wage so that you can buy the goods and services you need for yourself, for your family, for the future. If the reality is that prices are going up faster than wages, Australians are worse off. Let's actually look at the numbers. Prices for a working family in the last 12 months have gone up by 9.6 per cent. Wages have only gone up by about one-third of that. In fact, let's do the simple maths. This doctor of spin on the other side—he's not a doctor of economics. We've got a doctor of economics in the chamber on the other side, and there's another one who sits back there, but no doctor of economics at the dispatch box. He's a doctor of spin. He hasn't worked out that when you subtract 9.6 from 3.6 you get minus six. That's how much worse off a typical Australian working family is compared to a year ago. They can buy less with the money they earn than they could a year ago, by six per cent.

This isn't the first time the Treasurer has been tricky. We've got a tricky Treasurer. He was a tricky Treasurer when he put out his welfare budget, where he ignored 11 interest rate increases when he was looking at mortgage stress. He wanted to tell Australians they weren't under any mortgage stress, so he used numbers from before the 11 interest rate increases. Talk about an out-of-date and out-of-touch Treasurer, a tricky Treasurer, a walking talking point who is not interested in fighting inflation. He is focused on reinventing capitalism. He's focused on wasting money, raising taxes and reshaping the Productivity Commission so it doesn't focus on productivity. He's focused on his big-taxing, big-government, big-union agenda.

The truth of what is going on in the economy right now is, as I said, real wages are going down by six per cent. There are a couple of parts to that. The economy is shuddering to a halt. We saw in the national accounts just last week that the growth per person in Australia has been negative for two quarters in a row. That's a per capita recession. And the truth is growth is felt by people. When growth per person is going backwards, Australians feel poorer, and they do now.

It turns out the only thing now left driving the Australian economy is population growth. We have an economic growth strategy from those opposite that is nothing more than more population growth. Around 75 per cent of that is immigration growth. That's the only thing left. That's the only source of growth they've got left in the economy, and it's why Australians are feeling worse off. In the last year alone, we've seen population growth in this country of over 620,000 people, of which 433,000 have come through immigration. We believe firmly that Australia is a great immigrant nation, but you cannot drive the growth of an economy on population. It has to be based on prosperity. We believe in prosperity, productivity and population—all of the above, not one as a replacement for the others. The Labor government has given up on prosperity and is replacing it with population growth.

If you look at productivity, the picture is absolutely appalling. In the last five quarters since Labor came to government, labour productivity in this country, as output per hour worked, has dropped by 6.6 percent. As the member for Parramatta opposite has written on a number of occasions, strong labour productivity growth is a necessary condition for prosperity. When it has dropped by 6.6 per cent in a single year, you know Australians are going to be worse off. They are worse off under this government. Meanwhile, as I said a little earlier, we have had a 9.6 per cent increase in prices. We have seen 11 interest-rate increases under this government. In fact, the last time we saw interest rates anywhere near where they are today was under another Labor government. Meanwhile, on energy prices, you only have to walk down the street before an Australian pulls you up and says, 'I've got an energy bill; they promised me a $275 reduction.' No sign of that. No sign of that at all. Meanwhile, the cost of groceries, the cost of insurance and the cost of housing are all going up under this government.

Australians are suffering for this. This is having an impact everywhere you go. I've been touring a number of food banks right across this great country in recent months. Traditionally, you'd see people there who are really doing it tough, who you would expect to see at a place like that—people who have lost their jobs or who are renting. Now we're seeing people with a mortgage, people with jobs, not able to put food on the table for their families. You only have to look at what has happened to the price of everything to see what is going on. Australians are responding. They're responding as they have to. How are they responding? They're digging deep into their savings. We've seen a collapse in savings in this country because that's all they can do. They have to give up on their aspirations for the future. They have to give up on their aspirations to save, to put together money to buy a house, to pay down the mortgage. They're digging deep into their savings to pay for this huge increase in the price of absolutely everything.

But they're going further than that. They're working harder. They are putting in more hours. They are taking the opportunity to put in more hours because that's the only way they can do it. When they do that, they are making sacrifices. It means they can't pick up the kids from school. It means they have to give up on going to that school concert they expected to go to or taking the kids to sport. These are the sacrifices that Australians are making, and nowhere is that worse than amongst small-business people. We are seeing small-business people who can't make money unless they put in extra hours for nothing. That's what's going on. That's what goes on under a Labor government that is distracted and focusing on all the wrong things. They are focused on their Canberra Voice—

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Focused on themselves.

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

They are focused on themselves, as I just heard from one of my colleagues—absolutely right. They are focused on anything except for the hardships that Australians are facing right across this great country.

There is much the government could do—focusing on supporting small business and entrepreneurship and focusing on an incentive-based tax system. They could stop arguing amongst themselves about the stage 3 tax cuts; get on with it and provide Australians with lower taxes. We've seen a sharp increase in the taxes being paid by Australians. They could be enhancing incentives for work instead of encouraging more welfare. We believe in work, not welfare, and those opposite should do the same, re-emphasising sustainable budgets and getting the basics right on energy, infrastructure and education. It is time for a government that is focused on the hardships that Australians face every single day.

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This government was elected to get wages moving. That is why the people of Australia voted for the Albanese government on 22 May 2022, and we didn't waste a day in working to get wages moving in this country. I've got to say it was a long time coming for that MPI from the member for Hume. Some of us have been hanging out since last Thursday for that MPI, and I'll note that it wasn't those on this side of the House who denied him the opportunity. I actually came into this chamber last week and voted for the member for Hume to be able to have his MPI. Then I went back to the Hansard. I thought, 'Why didn't he have an MPI on Thursday? What happened? Why did his colleagues abandon him?' Then I went and looked at the Hansard, and it said very clearly:

The mover of the MPI does not appear to be present.

Having heard what I did for the last 10 minutes, it's not that much better when he is present. That was a long time coming. After the amount of time he had preparing for that MPI, the quality that came with that long preparation, that long run-up, is deeply disappointing for the Australian people. I'm getting a lecture about getting wages moving from those who sat around the cabinet table for almost 10 years when low wages growth was a deliberate design feature of their economic policy. So, if I am going to give the member for Hume credit for anything, I will start by giving him credit for at least turning up to give his MPI.

But I haven't had a chance to fact-check everything that the member the Hume said. What I do know is that, when we fact-check what the member the Hume says, often he gets things very deeply confused. We know that in May of this year he burst out and proudly said:

… in the last month alone, the price of Vegemite has increased by eight per cent …

But the member for Hume was completely wrong. He had managed to get annual and monthly inflation confused. He managed to get it confused on peanut butter. He got it confused on yoghurt. He is probably fortunate that whenever he walks into a supermarket he manages to walk out with something given how confused he is over groceries and the basics over the difference between monthly and annual inflation.

What we have also seen in this MPI is a huge turnaround in the member for Hume's approach and that of the entirety of the coalition government when it comes to wages. It was in June of last year that they were saying that they were worried about a wage-price spiral. They were telling us that we had to be sustainable and responsible when it came to wages growth and they didn't want to see too much wages growth. They were concerned that wages growth would take us back to the 1970s. I know that KISS will be playing at the AFL grand final later this month, but I don't think we're actually going back to the 1970s!

But what we are seeing is the same reluctance that we have seen from those opposite for decades and decades when it comes to trying to get wages moving in this country. I would say very simply that, if those opposite want to get wages moving, they should support the closing loopholes bill. If they think that wages should go backwards then they should oppose the closing loopholes bill. If they want wages to go forwards then they should stand in this place and support it.

What we have instead is those opposite opposing closing a loophole that prevents gig workers from being treated as workers. They are defending that loophole in the way they are voting in this place. They are defending the loophole that means that gig workers have no minimum standards of employment. They are defending the loophole that stops people from be able to transfer into a permanent job. They are defending the loophole that allows labour hire to undercut agreed and negotiated wage rates. They come in here day after day with speech after speech defending those loopholes.

They are wrong on that just as they were wrong when they opposed the secure jobs, better pay bill. We know that bill sought to make long overdue changes to make sure that people could get secure jobs and a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. It was really simple stuff. Improving access to bargaining was opposed by those opposite. Putting gender security and job security at the heart of the Fair Work Act was opposed by those opposite. Expanding access to flexible rostering was opposed by those opposite. Limiting the use of unfair fixed term contracts was opposed by those opposite.

We came into this place trying to terminate the Howard era Work Choices zombie agreements, and even that was too far for those in the coalition. When there was one last little bit of Work Choices, they clung to it like a life raft and said, 'No, we can't ever truly let go of our commitment to Work Choices.' They hung onto it. They even opposed the idea to ban advertisements that advertised jobs below the legal minimum award. They opposed that. We had a speech that was the classic catastrophising in speeches we get from those opposite in November last year from the Leader of the Opposition. He said, 'It doesn't improve the lives of Australians.' He said it was going to lead to 'economy-wide strikes the like of which we have not seen in recent memory'. November was a while ago. Where are the Leader of the Opposition's so-called strikes? Where are these people who are being sacrificed at the altar? What I can tell you about, though, is the people whose lives it has improved. It has improved the lives of people who want to get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. The one thing I did agree with in the Leader of the Opposition's speech on the 'secure jobs, better pay' bill last year was when he said, 'Our industrial relations system is far from perfect.' I agree. It's another reason why those opposite should come into this place and support the closing loopholes bill, so we can continue to do the work of getting wages moving.

Last year the Australian people chose to elect the Albanese government, and we advocated for an increase in the minimum wage. A 5.2 per cent increase was absolutely supported by members on this side. In July this year, we saw the minimum wage go up by 8.6 per cent—the largest on record. I challenge any member of the opposition speaking on this MPI to tell me that would have happened if they were in government. I think the Australian people know it would not have. We also had the very good news last month that the gender pay gap in this country, which has been too wide for too long, is the narrowest on record, at 13 per cent. We know there's a lot more to do, but things are heading in the right direction.

Again, let's look at what's happened, taking aged care as one example. We supported a wage increase for aged care workers. It took effect on 1 July this year. We committed $11.3 billion in our budget to fund the Fair Work Commission's interim decision for a 15 per cent pay increase. That has meant that 250,000 workers in aged care, over 85 per cent of whom are women, have been able to get a serious pay increase. Registered nurses, enrolled nurses, assistants in nursing, personal care workers, head chefs and cooks, recreational activities officers—the largest ever pay increase for aged care workers, ensuring that they finally get some more recognition for the incredibly important work that they do.

When it comes to matters to support household budgets, outside of wage increases, we've delivered cheaper child care, benefitting 1.2 million families. We've delivered cheaper medicines, helping 11 million people, saving Australians $138 million in seven months. When that latest round kicked in, on 1 September, I was joined by the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Ged Kearney, at View Street Medical in North Perth, where we talked to GP pharmacists about how it would benefit their patients. We've boosted bulk-billing. Despite the lack of help from those opposite, we got the energy price relief legislation through last year. We've expanded paid parental leave.

In the final moments available to me, I want to speak about industrial relations and the powers of the states, the territories and the Commonwealth. Industrial relations matters are something that the Australian parliament is able to act upon because of the powers that are given to us in section 51—subsections xx, xxix and xxxv—of the Constitution. This is an important thing that we legislate upon, passing laws in this place. Under what power do we do it? It tells us at the start of section 51, which you might want to pass on to the Leader of the Opposition: 'The parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power'—that's where the power to make sure that we can get wages moving again comes from. (Time expired)

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance, and I thank the member for Hume for bringing it. Australians have seen a collapse of real wages under this government. I've just heard the member for Perth talk about everything but the collapse of real wages that has occurred under his watch and under the watch of all of those opposite. In simple terms, a collapse in real wages means that prices are increasing at a greater rate than income and wages. While the member for Perth spoke a lot about IR and closing-the-loopholes legislation, and he spoke about childcare workers and aged-care workers, childcare workers and aged-care workers in my electorate know that every time they go to the supermarket, every time they fill up their car, every time they pay their rent, every time they pay their mortgage, it is costing more and more. It is taking up a far greater proportion of their take-home pay. That is what this MPI is about.

If those opposite don't believe the member for Hume, they can maybe have a good look at what happened last week with their own national accounts, which revealed that we are now in a per capita recession. What that means is that we've now had two quarters where growth per person is negative. Productivity has gone backwards. Outside of the pandemic, this is the first per capita recession we've had since the mid-2000s. That has happened after only 12 months of this Albanese Labor government. Economic output per person in this country is going backwards under this government. That is what's being felt on the ground. That's what we are all hearing from Australian families and from Australian businesses. It's what families and businesses in my electorate are telling me every day.

The real concern here is that this is not just a bad economic position that Labor has put Australians in. It's not just an economic issue. It's not just a financial issue. It's a very personal issue and it's a social issue. In particular, I draw the attention of those opposite to Suicide Prevention Australia's recent report State of the nation in suicide prevention. It states that the most significant risks to suicide rates over the next 12 months are cost of living and personal debt. And that can be sheeted home to this government.

This government has not got control of inflation. It has left everything to the Reserve Bank of Australia, which has at its disposal a very blunt instrument—that is, to increase interest rates. Twelve interest rate increases have occurred under this government.

We heard from Anthony Albanese, when he was campaigning, that Australians would be better off under this government. Australians are not better off under this government, and Australians now know that they are not better off under this government. The evidence is there when we see productivity declining and real wages going backwards. This demonstrates that this is an economy under strain after a year of inaction on inflation under Labor. When Labor talk about challenges on the global horizon and blame events overseas or try to distract the country with events here, that is simply not good enough. It is not an adequate excuse for a lack of an economic growth agenda. It is not an excuse for their failure to address inflation. This government has an excuse for everything; it's events overseas or it's something else internally. It has excuses but no plan at all.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hear those opposite. So what do you say when Lifeline, for example, is reporting that 80 per cent of its calls now relate to cost-of-living pressures? That is something that has happened on your watch. This is on your watch. Real wages have fallen significantly under those opposite. They need to come up with a plan to address inflation and increase productivity. (Time expired)

Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Real wages measure the increase in wages relative to increases in other prices in the economy, and, over long periods, real wages are what drive Australians living standards. If real wages are rising, it is easier to put food on the table and pay the bills. If real wages are falling, it is harder to make ends meet. So it is important that we discuss real wages and look hard at those numbers, and it's important that we get those numbers right.

Let's have a look at what the shadow Treasurer, the mover of this motion, said in his speech to this parliament. He said, 'Real wages are collapsing.' He said, 'Inflation is running at 9.6 per cent, and wages are growing at 3.6 per cent.' He said, in a little maths lesson from the shadow Treasurer, 'If you subtract one from the other, we have negative real wage growth of six per cent.' I try and track the economy reasonably closely, and I have to say I couldn't find this number—this 9.6 number. Has anybody ever heard of 9.6 as the CPI? I was sitting here, I was scratching my head and I was wondering what on earth he was talking about when he said the number was 9.6. I googled just to check and the most recent CPI number is six per cent, annualised. That's the most recent CPI number, very strange. Then I went back—have I missed something here? Was there a previous number that was bigger? I'll quote the ABS, 'The peak of inflation was 7.8 per cent in December 2022,' the biggest we've had in the last two decades. So where on earth was the 9.6 number that the shadow Treasurer is talking about?

Are we having a vegemite moment here, friends? It's hard to tell. I had a little google, 'Where is that 9.6 number?' It turns out that it's not the CPI; the 9.6 number is the number for goods inflation, part of the CPI that excludes all of the services component of that CPI. It's a bit of cherry-picking. Here's the beauty of it, friends: it's not even the most recent number! It's the goods CPI number for September 2022. That number is over a year old! Can you believe it? The shadow Treasurer, the mover of his own motion, comes into this House, gives us a CPI number that is, (a) wrong and (b) old, and then he has the gall to subtract that from his 3.6 wages number. That number was easy to find. He's on firmer ground here, colleagues—3.6 was the June '23 wage price index—but you can't subtract a June '23 wage price index from a September '22 inflation number of your choice. When you calculate real numbers, you don't just pick the date at which you want the numerator and pick another date for the denominator, whatever makes you feel best. You can't do this.

This is the act of a sloppy and lazy shadow Treasurer. Could you get more incompetent than getting the inflation number wrong in your own MPI, subtracting wages from a different year from that inflation number? Do you know what this actually shows, Deputy Speaker? It shows that the shadow Treasurer actually doesn't care about real wages at all. He actually doesn't care about the living standards of ordinary Australians. This is another outrageous mistake.

Let me give the actual facts on where real wages are going. If he'd let his fingers do the walking, if he had looked for the most recent data, he would have found that in the June quarter, the most recent quarter, CPI was running at 0.8 per cent and the wage price index was running at 0.8 per cent. If you subtract one from the other, what do you get? You get real wages that, for the first time in a long time, are no longer negative. To suggest that real wages are collapsing when, for the first time in the most recent data, they have come out of negative territory is absolutely wrong.

I'll help the shadow Treasurer out: zero is not a big number. I'll let him know that. Zero is a small number—a little math fact for the shadow Treasurer! But I'll tell him what zero is bigger than: it's bigger than minus 1.5. Minus 1.5 was the real wages growth in the last quarter that those opposite left us with. Minus 1.5 is their legacy. Today it has come out of negative territory for the first time. It is outrageous that we have a shadow Treasurer who would come into this House and give us sloppy and factually incorrect numbers in his own MPI. (Time expired)

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know the member for Parramatta loves his numbers. He obviously likes talking about them. I really hope—

Accurate? Okay, we're going to talk about accurate numbers, because I really hope he speaks to the Treasurer and everyone opposite who talks about the trillion dollars of debt that doesn't exist—it is $517 billion. Go and have a look at ABC Fact Check. They're very happy to sit there and talk about those numbers. Are you going to talk to the Prime Minister and the Treasurer? I know the member for Hawke likes to use the $1 trillion debt misinformation line from those opposite. It's very easy to get up and talk about numbers—we can all talk about numbers. The real wages growth number to June this year is -2.4 per cent, and the member for Parramatta talks a lot about insider stuff when we talk about these numbers. But let's actually go back to what we're talking about, which is families. Australian families know they're doing it harder than ever. Anyone that speaks to people in their community knows that it's tough to pay the rent, to pay the mortgage, to put food on the table. Just today the latest Westpac sentiment report said that Australian families are more worried about the state of their finances than at any other time in the last 30 years.

The member for Parramatta and those opposite can laugh about whether it's 9.6 per cent or whether it's -2.4 per cent for real wages growth, but the reality is the Australian people are doing it harder than ever. This government has no answers. It has no nothing. The Treasurer gives us lectures, the member for Parramatta gives us lectures. They do not give the Australian people the solutions they're looking for.

As a candidate I had the unfortunate need to listen to the then opposition leader, now Prime Minister, and to listen to the shadow Treasurer at the time. They spoke a lot about real wages. On 24 June last year, when they had just got into government so were not quite across the numbers, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Tony Burke, said:

We're fighting for real wage growth from day one …

He said Labor would fight for real wage growth in its first term and had been pushing for growth from day one. That was on 24 July last year. Every time he stands at the dispatch box now, every time the Treasurer stands at that dispatch box, every time the Prime Minister stands at that dispatch box, they will talk about wage growth. They will never use the term 'real wages growth'. The reason they don't is that they know it is going backwards, and Australians are worse off today than they were on 21 May last year. That is a fact that those opposite know, and Australians know it. They know it every time they go to the petrol browser. They know it when they get their mortgage bill. They know it when their electricity bill comes in.

The member for Hawke thinks those in the community are doing better than ever, and they've never had it better. It must be a little different over in Melbourne because I know in my community they are struggling. People are having to make choices about whether they can eat or heat. That is the reality of winter for many families. It is a reality that my family went through over 30 years ago. And that is what we're talking about. The economy is in a worse place for families than 30 years, but we have a prime minister and a Treasurer that don't offer solutions. They offered plenty of criticism about this when they were in opposition, but they are not providing any solutions for the Australian people. And it is even worse than that. This Prime Minister doesn't even want to get across the detail of the economy. Since he has been Prime Minister, seriously, this Prime Minister has not got one briefing from Steven Kennedy, the Secretary of the Treasury, and that was said in Senate estimates. That is not misinformation. In Senate estimates the Secretary of the Treasury said he has not given him one briefing. The Prime Minister has spent more time at the Australian Open tennis than he has getting a private briefing from Steven Kennedy, the Secretary of the Treasury. You don't have to listen to what they say, you look at what they do. This Prime Minister doesn't have a plan to improve and bring real wages up. We all know they are going backwards, which means every dollar you are earning is worth less. Inflation is still well above the target of two per cent to three per cent. This government has no plan for the Australian people. (Time expired)

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

I'm pleased to use this parochial phrase from this Victorian, but those opposite clearly have more front than Myer in this debate. I guess we should welcome the more courageous attitude from the member for Hume this week. At least he stayed for the start of the MPI today, although I know he is no longer in the chamber.

On this side of the House we do know that people are under pressure, and we do take the cost-of-living issue really seriously. I do want to pause and reflect on this. I would have hoped that when we talk about issues as serious as suicide, they wouldn't be weaponised for cheap political shots. I want to say that in this chamber because I do think it is a really serious issue. We had World Suicide Prevention Day yesterday. I am quite concerned at the way suicide sometimes does get bandied around in political debates in ways that I don't think actually show genuine compassion about people's mental health.

Moving on from that, let's look at the facts, as the member for Parramatta and the member for Perth began to do in this chamber, unlike those opposite. We know that people are doing things tough, but the reality is, despite the fact that those opposite might not want to admit this, since we came to office, we've seen wages increase while inflation has fallen. That's a fact. Treasury analysis shows earnings for the average full-time worker increased 3.9 per cent in the first year of our government. In dollar terms, the average full-time worker is earning around $3,700 extra per year since we came into office. Under our government, wages are growing at their fastest pace in a decade, and we have the first budget surplus in 15 years, which took pressure of inflation when inflation was most acute.

It is completely disingenuous of those opposite to feign concern about the real wages of Australians when wage stagnation was at the heart of their economic policies. It was a deliberate design feature of their plan. In their last two budgets they planned for real wages to fall. In this place just last week, when those opposite were given the opportunity to help lift wages, they voted to delay the closing the loopholes bill and they failed Australians once again by saying no.

They voted to delay pay increases for mine and aviation workers. They voted to trap permanent casuals in insecure work for longer. They voted to delay the criminalisation of wage theft. They spent their entire time in government keeping wages low and holding workers back, and they're still doing it in opposition. For 10 long years those opposite had a deliberate policy of keeping Australian wages low. If they were serious about real wage growth, they would have done something about it. And of course they didn't because they're not serious.

This tells you everything you need to know about the Liberal-National coalition. They're not concerned about the people they represent. They're concerned about making cheap political points. I wish they cared about the welfare of Australian people. I wish that we could take this motion seriously. Australians can see through this charade. We have learned over the last few months that those opposite would rather stand in the way than help when it comes to easing pressures on the household budget.

We remember what life was like when those opposite were in government. We remember the decade of stagnating wages. We remember the costs of child care, health care, energy and education all increasing. In my own electorate of Chisholm, the cost to see a GP went up by 38 per cent. We know Australians are under pressure. That's why we are doing something about it. We're rolling out responsible cost-of-living relief without adding to inflation. It's not just that we're getting wages moving again, it's also about doing what good governments do to support Australians with cost-of-living relief. Cheaper child care benefits 1.2 million families. Cheaper medicines—we're boosting bulk-billing. We've achieved a pay rise for aged-care workers. We worked to make sure that we could deliver energy price relief. We're a responsible government. Those opposite are being disingenuous in everything that they say, and this is just another example. (Time expired)

Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the speakers who have come before me, on both sides. The member for Perth mentioned the Constitution. I like to flick through it when I'm waiting for an actual relevant answer.

A n honourable member interjecting—

The same page, yes. There are some other parts of section 51 that you might like to hear. It says:

The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution—

Apparently that doesn't have any meaning, but it does have meaning—

have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth—

Good government of the Commonwealth—it might be worth picking that part up and flicking through it every now and then because good government is what you are put here by the Australian people to do. We haven't had good government from this government, and that is a serious thing.

We've had many interjections through this debate, and I'll mention a few of them. We had the member for Higgins say, 'Why did you suppress real wages for a decade?' Sorry, I've misrepresented you. I said 'real wages', and you said 'wages'. We always leave the 'real' part out. The interjection was: 'Why did you suppress wages for a decade?'

When I was growing up, I remember watching Sesame Street. There was always the word of the day and the number of the day, and that's how I imagine the government members meet; there's a word of the day. It's quite clear that the words of the day—there are two of them—are 'misinformation' and 'disinformation'. You've all come in here and repeated them again and again, throughout this parliament. I remember when it was called 'fake news', but we've moved on to 'misinformation' and 'disinformation'. When you think about those words, they're a great way to say, 'I'm not listening to you; I'm not listening.' We know why you're saying that, in these last five weeks before the referendum. 'I'm not listening.' You talk about listening, but you don't actually do it.

In this motion, I'd like to take the points that were made by the member for Parramatta, who is a friend of mine on the House economics committee. He is a distinguished economist, but I think Google let you down today. You were quite quick to jump to your feet to correct the shadow Treasurer on his use of a particular number. If you were to open up Google on your laptop or your phone, I'd urge you to go a media release dated 2 August 2023, with the heading 'Employee households see biggest rise in living costs'. Under the subheading 'Employee households' it says:

Living costs for employee households recorded the largest annual rise of all household types, at 9.6 per cent.

So it's not a number that the shadow Treasurer has just plucked from thin air. It has real consequences.

I'd like to go to the contributions by my friends the member for Hughes and the member for Casey. They talked about the real consequences for people. The words of the day today aren't misinformation and disinformation; the word of the day is 'real'. It's about what real Australians are facing out in the real world, not here. What they're facing is a 15.7 per cent increase in electricity prices. They were promised a cut of $275. That's never the number of the day. It's never the word of the day, either. It doesn't appear in the Sesame Street briefing that you get in the morning. Then we have gas prices going up sharply, almost 14 per cent in the latest data, and from the good state of Victoria, like the member for Chisholm—enjoy your gas at record prices, because it won't be there in the future, thanks to our Premier. We've had milk and bread prices going up by 10 per cent or more, and Australians are paying. People are noticing their insurance bills, when they open them, are at astronomical prices.

The worst thing of all, which we don't hear about from the members opposite, is the interest payments on mortgages. An average mortgage in a city area of $750,000 area sees that family pay $22,000 more a year. When you look at the average wages that people get, that is just off the chart. People have to make choices, and they have to make compromises.

We're not here to politicise the horrible scourge of suicide in this country. We're not here to do that; none of us are, on either side. I would never accuse you of doing that. That's not what we're doing. But we all have food banks in our electorates, and I challenge any of you to say they aren't seeing more people queueing up than before. I challenge any of you to say that. I've got six in my electorate, and the queues are out the door. Those people are doing it tougher than they ever have. They're relying on you, and you're letting them down.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It truly beggars belief that of all people in this place it is the opposition bringing this matter of public importance to the parliament today, because the issue of low wages growth is one that has been persistent in our economy for many, many years. Low wages growth isn't a problem that started at the date of the last federal election. It isn't a problem that started last week. It is a problem that was manufactured by the Liberal Party of Australia during their nine years of government. We know this because low wages were a deliberate design feature of their economic plan.

From 2013 to 2022, under the former Liberal government, wages remained largely stagnant, barely keeping pace with the rising cost of living. Between 2013 and 2022, the annual wage growth rate averaged a mere 2.3 per cent, which barely kept up with inflation, effectively resulting in zero real wage growth. In practical terms, this meant that the average Australian worker's wage barely kept pace with the rising cost of goods and services. In fact, when accounting for inflation, the real wage growth effectively amounted to zero. The stagnation of wages under the previous government inflicted a heavy toll on everyday Australians, leaving them to grapple with the harsh reality of their eroding purchasing power. The deliberate design of the Liberals' economic plan meant that it was harder for Australian families to make ends meet. It was hard for Australians to pay their bills and harder for Australians to provide for their families. None of this is opinion or editorial. We've got the receipts. This is what former finance minister Mathias Cormann revealed in March 2019 when he said that low wages were 'a deliberate design feature of our economic architecture'.

Thankfully, we now have a government that cares deeply about ensuring Australians' wages are moving in the right direction. Labor was elected on a promise to get wages moving, and that's exactly what we've started to do. It is this government, after nearly a decade of those opposite, that genuinely recognises how hard Australians work, from the cleaners who clean our hospitals to the tech workers who drive innovation and the care industry workers looking after our most vulnerable. Our commitment to them at the last election and today is to get wages moving for them. I know that all on this side of the House will continue to work to help our lowest paid workers get the pay rise that those opposite never helped deliver.

As a result of our government's actions, we are seeing annual wage growth rates that have not been this high since 2012. In the June 2023 quarter, wages rose, marking the first time in 11 consecutive quarters where real wages didn't go backward. Earnings for the average full-time worker increased by 3.9 per cent in the first year of our government. That's about $3,700 going straight back into Australian workers' pockets. Not only has our government supported the national minimum wage rises—it has increased by 8.6 per cent, which just so happens to be the largest increase on record—we have also secured and funded a long overdue 15 per cent increase for aged-care workers, benefiting 250,000 people across Australia.

It tells you everything that you need to know about the modern Liberal Party that they have the gall to bring this matter of public importance to this place while they vote against genuine cost-of-living relief and wage growth measures. Again and again they voted against supporting wage growth in this parliament and supporting cost-of-living relief. When the Fair Work Commission was tasked with determining the minimum wage rise last year, what did those opposite say to making a submission to support wages going up? They said no. When the Fair Work Commission was tasked with determining the minimum wage rise this year, what did those opposite say to making a submission to support wages going up? They said no. When it came to passing the secure jobs legislation to improve access to bargaining for our lowest paid and most feminised sectors, also expanding flexible working arrangements for working families, what did those opposite say? They said no. And when it comes to debating and passing the legislation now before the House to close employment loopholes, ensuring minimum wage rates for our gig economy workers, we know what they'll say. They will say no again. I would encourage the Liberal Party to get on board and support the government's efforts to get wages moving and reduce cost-of-living pressures. I would encourage them to also acknowledge the impact their terrible policies had on our wages and our economy.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the opportunity that the shadow Treasurer is providing to members to talk about the situation of real wages going backwards in this country. I regret that the government contributors have decided not to address that central point, though I suppose they wouldn't want to because, if we look at the situation with inflation and look at the situation with wages, inflation in June, for the financial year, was six per cent, and wages growth was 3.6 per cent. So real wages in the first financial year of this government are going backwards. Those are ABS statistics. They can't be disputed, so the talking points will be every attempt imaginable to put some sort of spin on this diabolical situation that Australian families find themselves in.

Not as many of them as some might like are listening to this debate, but they're certainly feeling it in the hip pocket when they're having discussions around the kitchen table about the family budget, when they're getting bill shock from opening the electricity bill, when they get to the check-out at the supermarket and they see what the weekly or fortnightly shop is costing them, and when they see the power of their pay packet going backwards. As their costs are rising dramatically, their wages are going backwards relatively. That's the reality of the first 12 months of this government.

Many of those opposite, who get the talking points from the Treasurer's office, were instructed to talk about the previous government. Bizarrely, they were even conceding that there was growth under the previous government; they were just saying it wasn't high enough. Under this government, it's going backwards. You don't have any real growth. You've got negative growth. You've got a deterioration in the spending power of the average worker. That's indisputable when you compare the annualised CPI and the annualised wages growth. So workers in this country, the ones the government claims to support, are going backwards under this government.

With interest rates, the fixed rate is now in the sixes. A lot of people who are coming off three-year rates that were in the low twos are now getting rates in the low sixes. I was talking to a couple on the weekend who have just last month seen their interest repayments triple as they have matured from a three-year fixed rate. Their total mortgage has gone up threefold. Their electricity bills are going up—and for their groceries. In Adelaide right now, fuel is way over $2 a litre. Regrettably, with the Aussie dollar where it is and oil prices where they are, that's only going to go up in the weeks ahead.

So all of the major outputs from the average family budget are going up, but real wages are going down, and that's the point of this MPI. It's an opportunity for those in this parliament, particularly those who are members of a government that committed to addressing real wages growth, as they call it—there's no growth going on. It's going backwards under this government. That's something that is shameful and something that you would think would be a priority—not a referendum, not that major distraction from the core issue that all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, are facing, which is the dramatic escalation of cost-of-living pressures across all the major elements of the household budget.

This government has the wrong priorities. They don't want to talk about the statistics for their time in government. They don't want to talk about the reality of increasing electricity and other utility prices across the board, increasing mortgages and increasing rents, and real wages going backwards in this high-inflation environment. All we've heard is commentary from talking points distributed by a minister, no doubt about the previous government. There is no pride in the record of the first 12 months or more of their government because, on this topic and so many others, there is absolutely nothing to be proud of. The $275 reduction in electricity prices—we never again heard that commitment discussed in this chamber by those opposite.

An explosion in interest rates, an explosion in rental costs, inflation out of control and real wages going backwards are the reality of the record of this government. There was an opportunity to dispute those facts from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and others. But, of course, if I was in a government with that record I probably would give a speech that was all about the last government because I wouldn't be proud of the record of the government I was part of, and that has become patently clear in this debate today.

Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those opposite have been at pains—it's been painful for me—to explain the difference between wages and real wages, or at least try to. I thank them for displaying the might of their collective economic intellectualism! We all understand that, when inflation exceeds wages growth, working people and their families are worse off. It should also be obvious then that the fastest way to reverse this difference and lift real wages is to bring inflation under control and get wages moving again. While those opposite seemingly refuse to believe that both can be done simultaneously, the proof is in the numbers. Inflation has been steadily moderating since the end of last year, while annual wages growth is at the highest levels since Labor was last in power, in 2012. In fact, analysis out of Treasury shows that the average full-time worker is $1,400 better off than if wages had continued to stagnate as they did under the Liberals. It's clear that the interventions of this Labor government are working and that the Liberals' real-wage freefall has been turned around, despite the enormous magnitude of their economic negligence.

When the Albanese Labor government came to office, real wages were stagnant. Productivity had slumped for a decade. Inflation growth was out of control. Despite these clear failures, the Liberals insisted on persisting with their broken economic plan to deliberately suppress the wages of Australian workers. After spending nearly a decade in government intentionally keeping wages low, those opposite have desperately tried to continue to block any effort to get wages moving again. After opposing a $1 an hour increase to the minimum wage—a one single dollar an hour increase to the minimum wage—in the dying days of their government, they have since opposed our secure jobs, better pay bill and opposed the protecting worker entitlements legislation, and just last week we heard that they'll also be opposing the closing loopholes legislation currently before the House.

Their obsession with keeping wages low is blinding them to the economic realities that we face. The divergence between returns on capital and returns on labour has created an environment of unsustainable profit performance at the expense of our long-term economic health. Despite what those opposite say about our agenda to get wages moving, it is in fact the erosion of the pay and conditions of workers to unsustainably pad corporate bottom lines that damaged productivity during their nine years in power. Our long-term economic prosperity relies on achieving and maintaining an equilibrium between the returns on productivity inputs. This isn't a complex economic proposal. It's simply about ensuring that the returns on investment of both labour and capital are sufficient to drive the investment of each. Sadly, however, it appears that even this basic economic principle is lost on the Liberals opposite.

To make matters worse, while they were deliberately suppressing wages for Australian workers, they were failing to adequately safeguard our economy from the supply-side pressures that saw inflation start to take hold under the former Liberal government. For years, they wilfully sabotaged our sovereign capability and domestic manufacturing, even daring manufacturers like General Motors to leave. And their lazy approach to market concentration further suppressed economic productivity. They failed to identify and protect supply chain vulnerabilities, exacerbating global supply pressures and putting more strain on household budgets, businesses and, indeed, our whole economy.

However, what's most astonishing is that, despite all these failings, they still managed to rack up $1 trillion of Liberal debt. They pump-primed the demand side of our economy, and they racked up a trillion bucks of debt—$1 trillion of Liberal debt, taxpayer money—in order to do it. I know the fragile egos on that side of the room have to face up to reality here. I know it's very difficult. The reality is that the modern Liberals are hopeless economic managers. They've proved it. They spent a decade proving it for Australians. This Labor government is relentlessly focused on attacking the cost of living for Australian families. Inflation growth is down, and wages are up, but it's plain that the Liberals' economic credentials are all over the place.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion has now concluded.