Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Yes—no surprises there. Gross national income was $4,600 lower per person than what it could have been if productivity growth was in line with the long-term average. This is important because 80 per cent of income growth in the past three decades has come from productivity gains. We should not be surprised, sadly, that the past decade we've seen with real wages is largely due to the poor decade we've also had on productivity.

The report said very clearly:

Almost all sustained increases in real wages are underpinned by improvements in labour productivity growth.

Being more productive means Australians can consume higher-quality, and access new, goods and services.

Getting productivity moving again is a huge challenge that has been neglected under those opposite. It's a challenge that we take seriously, which is why Labor's economic plan is so important. Investment into the productive side of the economy, the productivity agenda, is at the heart of our economic plan—childcare reforms, skills and advanced manufacturing, and, of course, the opportunities that are going to come in the energy sector. The report is yet another scathing assessment of the former government's failure to drive reform or grab the opportunities for jobs and growth they should have, and Australians have paid an enormous price for that.