Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Hume must have a very short memory with regard to wages. In the last nine years of a Liberal government, we saw the worst period of wage growth in Australia's history. We saw middle class people in this country wages decline under the previous government. It was no accident. Former Minister Cormann said, 'Low wages growth is a deliberate feature of our economic architecture.' When the Liberals left office, real wages were lower than they were when they entered office in 2013. The labour share of income was at an all-time low while profits were at an all-time high. The McKell Institute has found an average worker would be earning $307 more per week if the wage growth achieved under Labor between 2007 and 2013 had been sustained from 2014 to 2021. That's an extra almost $16,000 per year in the pockets of Aussie workers.

We also know what the cause of low wage growth has been over those nine years. We know that the government's policy was to drive wages down, because that was part of their architecture. Rising job insecurity and a tax on trade unions have kept wages down for a decade. Take the mining industry for example. The Minerals Council had admitted labour-hire casuals get paid, for doing the exact same job, 24 per cent less in their industry, and it's rife through many industries. But the Liberals' response to that, of course, was that it was a made-up issue. Even the Minerals Council were admitting the people were getting ripped off, but it was a made-up issue. No wonder we have had a wages problem in this country for nine long years.

Take gig workers. They are paid just $6 an hour. Former Senator Stoker said, 'That's what they signed up for.' That was her response. Of course, you remember the former Minister Porter saying it was too complicated to turn around and give the minimum wage to those gig workers.

In talking about that, we move to the ABCC, which in six years had received $200 million in funding but only recovered $5 million for workers. That is only $5 million in six years in an industry that's rife with wage theft and wage exploitation. Of course, if you then look at what happened with the CFMEU and construction workers in the second half of 2021, you see the CFMEU got $17 million. That is $5 million for six years compared to $17 million for six months. You can see why they're anti-union. That was real take-home pay that was being affected under the previous government's watch.

Take their approach to migrant workers who were ripped off and exploited with full immunity to the companies under the previous government. As we heard in the job security committee inquiry, specific workers are earning just $3 an hour, living in crowded rooms with 10 other people on farms in one case run by the former Liberal minister Richard Alston—surprise, surprise, surprise! It is fundamentally in their DNA. They don't want to see workers getting a decent wage. They don't mind seeing people getting as low as $6 an hour. They don't mind turning around and spending $200 million whilst getting a measly recompense for an industry that's been ripping people off, in particular the construction industry. And they sat by and said it's part of their architecture to make sure wages are kept low and people are exploited in such a way.

Let's look at the Liberals. Will they change? Liberals thought it was a bright idea to campaign against the lowest paid workers in Australia getting a $1 an hour pay rise. They campaigned against it and they have the hide to come in here and say, 'What are you doing about wage increases?' I tell you what: we'll always do more than you and we'll deliver what we've said we're prepared to do.

You might think the Liberals would have learned from the election that their low-wage agenda is deeply unpopular with Australian workers, but there they are again, defending the ABCC, an agency that exists to keep wages down and safety and conditions low in the building industry. They continue to attack trade unions.