Jodie Belyea (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. After a decade of deliberate wage stagnation, how is the Albanese Labor government helping to get wages moving? 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 Dunkley for that question. With that question about wages, the member for Dunkley, on her fifth day here, has now asked more questions about wages than the entire opposition this term. Don't pretend you can care about cost of living if you want people's wages held back.

We've now had three quarters of real wage growth in this country. People have now turned a corner, but it will take some time before they really feel they're getting in front. That's because those three quarters followed a decade of wage stagnation, which was a deliberate design feature of how those opposite managed the economy.

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

Order! The member for Fisher will cease interjecting.

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

Today we've announced the key content of the government's submission to the annual wage review—that low-paid workers in Australia should not be going backwards when compared with inflation.

Now, it's not the first time there's been a discussion on this particular point. It's something that was raised during the election campaign, when the question was asked, 'Should people on low wages be able to keep up with prices?' When those opposite were asked the question, 'Should people on low wages keep up with prices?' at first they said, 'That would be reckless.' Then they were asked, 'Should people on low wages be able to keep up with the prices?' and then they said, 'That would be dangerous.' When this Prime Minister was asked, 'Should people on low wages be able to keep up with prices?' it was a one-word answer: 'Absolutely.' As a result of that, people on the minimum wage in Australia are now earning $110 a week more than they were earning when we came to government, and soon those same workers will get a tax cut of $827. For those workers—like for all Australians under the Albanese Labor government—we're making sure that they'll earn more and that they'll keep more of what they earn.

The response wasn't only during the election campaign, from those saying this was a bad idea. Only this morning the member for New England was there describing it as 'Window-dressing'—window-dressing—'for people on low wages.' I invite the member for New England to tell an early childhood worker that now earning $95 a week more is just window-dressing. Tell them that getting a tax cut of $1,000 a year is just window-dressing. Try telling a cleaner, who now earns $100 a week more because of the approach this government's taken to the annual wage review, that their pay rise is just window-dressing or their tax cut of more than $1,000 a year is just window-dressing.

Those opposite want people to work longer for less. We want people to earn more and keep more of what they earn.