Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The government is being very candid and very honest with the Australian people. Here's a newsflash for you: business wants to pay as little as they can for anything they buy, whether it's products, whether it's services, whether it's their workers. And workers want to get as much as they possibly can get. And then there is the market; there is supply and demand. Business will not pay higher wages because they want to but because they have to, because if they want to manufacture products, if they want to deliver services, if they want to export products and services around the world, they can't do it without a workforce. And the more successful they are in creating products, in building things, in selling products and services around the world, the more workers they need. As they want to hire more workers than they otherwise would, competition for workers will be stronger than it otherwise would be, and the workforce across Australia will have more bargaining power than they otherwise would. Under your government— (Time expired)