Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. How is the Albanese Labor government helping Australian men and women earn more and keep more of what they earn after a decade of wage stagnation, and what has been the response?

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 Lalor for the question and for her commitment to getting wages moving in this country. Under the Albanese Labor government, women and men are earning more and keeping more of what they earn. If you look at the rate at which wages were growing in the decade where low wage growth was a deliberate design feature, the wage price index is now running at roughly double what it was previously.

There was a moment in the life of the previous government where there was a significant closing of the gender pay gap. It was not down to the levels we've got it to now, but there was one drop, where it came down from 14 per cent to 13.4 per cent. At the time, Senator Cash said this:

We are proud to stand on our record of dramatically reducing the gender pay gap in Australia and of raising workplace standards for women in Australia.

What Senator Cash didn't include in the release at that time was that the majority reason for the gender pay gap closing was that men's wages had collapsed during the lockdown period of 2020. What we have with the latest closing of the gender pay gap, down to the lowest level it has ever been, is a situation where men's wages have gone up, women's wages have gone up and the gender pay gap has closed, at the same time that inflation has been moderating. That's exactly what we have in this situation, with the latest data showing the gender pay gap is at its lowest level on record, at 12 per cent. I'm surprised there are angry interjections on that point—

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No-one's interjecting!

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

but maybe I shouldn't be surprised, given what Senator Canavan had to say. I do, as the Prime Minister said, single out the fact the Deputy Leader of the Opposition came out yesterday in a media conference saying, 'I reject all those comments.' Then this morning, in an interview with Patricia Karvelas, who asked, 'Why do you disagree?' he gave it straight and just said: 'Because they're wrong. I'm taking this issue seriously.' You would have thought, on an issue as important as the gender pay gap, it wouldn't only be the Deputy Leader of the Opposition who was taking the issue seriously and calling out the comments of Senator Canavan, but there was not one word from the Leader of the Opposition in response to the extraordinary comments from Senator Canavan.

We have a situation where the gender pay gap is the lowest it has ever been. Unequivocally, this side of the House says, 'That is a good thing.' We have a situation where wages are now growing at roughly double the rate they did under those opposite, and, unequivocally, we say, 'That is a good thing.' We said we would get wages moving. We said we'd lower the gender pay gap. What we said would happen with wages is occurring, and that is a good thing.