Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks to the member for Boothby for her great question and an even better representation. Inflation is coming down, wages are going up and cost-of-living relief is rolling out to every taxpayer and to every corner of our country. A million more people are working. They are earning more, they are keeping more of what they earn and participation in work is at record highs. Consumer confidence is still relatively weak, but it's rising. It rose again today, in new numbers today—the highest in a couple of years. It showed that household confidence, in the 12-month economic outlook, has risen almost 11 points since the tax cuts began in July.

We know, when it comes to the cost of living, it's far from 'mission accomplished' because people are still doing it tough. But we have made some really substantial progress together. Inflation has more than halved; it's back in the Reserve Bank's target band. The underlying measure has come down a lot as well. I remind the House that those opposite said that it wasn't possible to have inflation moderating substantially and wages growing strongly. Not for the first time, they have been spectacularly wrong. We've got wages growing, we've got inflation falling and that means we are seeing real wages growth in our economy for four consecutive quarters, in the new data that came out last week.

As the infrastructure minister pointed out a moment ago, one of the things we are proudest of is that the gender pay gap is now the lowest on record. The ACTU Mind the gap report, released today, shows that if the previous slow rate of progress under those opposite had continued women would be $1,900 a year worse off than they are now. Under this government as well, minimum wage earners have got $7,000 extra per annum and there are wage rises for aged-care and early childhood educators. That's because we see decent wages as part of the solution to this cost-of-living challenge, not part of the problem.

But not everyone in here agrees. We know the opposition leader doesn't. We know the Leader of the Opposition is a risk to wages because we know his record of gutting Medicare, coming after wages and pushing wages down. That's why real wages were falling when those opposite were in office—nine years of deliberate wage stagnation because they want Australians working longer for less.

This is one of the many ways the opposition leader's reckless arrogance has real costs for real people in real communities. Australians would go backwards under him, and under them. This side of the House has got real wages moving again, but we know Australians are still doing it tough. That's why we're coming at this cost-of-living challenge from every responsible angle, and progress on decent pay is a big part of our efforts.