Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Women. How will the Albanese Labor government's tax cuts support women to earn more and to keep more of what they earn?

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Boothby for her question. Her long and distinguished career in the social services sector means that she is an incredibly important asset to this place, particularly when it comes to vulnerable Australians but also on issues around the cost of living.

Labor does want people to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. We know that those opposite want people to work longer for less. That's what those opposite want. Under Labor, wages growth is double what it averaged under the Liberals and Nationals, and this wages growth means that women are earning more, and our tax reforms of course mean that they will get to keep more of what they earn. And, under Labor, the gender pay gap has dropped, again, to a record low, with the ABS reporting last week that the gender pay gap has dropped to 12 per cent. This shows that Labor's deliberate efforts to support women's economic equality are working, with very real and tangible benefits. That is because women's economic equality is a core priority for this government. These things do not happen by accident. It's because of the work that we've done in industrial relations reform, the work that we've done in gender pay equity and the work that we've done in supporting aged-care workers. All of that matters in making sure that we get that gender pay gap down.

We know that tomorrow the Workplace Gender Equality Agency will be publishing employer-level gender pay gap reports. This is a first for Australia, and it will give employees greater visibility of how their workplaces are performing, and increase the transparency and focus on employers to accelerate change. This is on top of the reforms, as I said, that we've made in industrial relations to improve how it works for women—reforms that are making a difference to women's lives.

Of course, our tax cuts will put more money back into the pockets of Australian women to provide cost-of-living relief. Our plan will see Australian women taxpayers on average receiving a tax cut of $1,649 from 1 July, and it will see a bigger tax cut for 90 per cent of Australian women taxpayers, who will be receiving an additional tax cut of $707. That is 5.8 million Australian women across the country.

We know that women work hard across our economy, and we want to ensure that they keep more of that hard earned money to meet the daily challenges and cost-of-living pressures that they face. Under Labor's plan, childcare workers, disability carers and aged-care workers are some of the most likely to benefit from these tax cuts, with 95 per cent of those workers benefiting. These changes will ensure that those in Middle Australia get to keep more of the money that they earn without adding to inflation. Labor will always work hard for women, and soon the minister will release— (Time expired)