Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wanted to pick up perhaps from where Senator Urquhart left off but I have to go back to Senator Cameron's contribution first, because he reminded us of time machines. I think Senator Cameron is a little bit like a time machine. He reminds us of another time. He reminds us of a time when union leaders felt they ran this country—perhaps they felt they ran other countries as well. He reminds us of a time when unions used to dominate. That wasn't a good outcome for workers. It wasn't a good outcome for our economy. It wasn't a good outcome for wages growth.

Senator Urquhart just talked about driving down wages. What we saw under the last coalition government, in those 11 years, was wages continually rising strongly above inflation. We saw real wages growth.