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

Last weekend, New South Wales voted for a Minns Labor government. They also voted to scrap the punitive wage cap that the Liberals and Nationals forced onto essential public sector workers, including nurses, firefighters, allied health workers and teachers.

Just like at the federal election last year, voters said that they are sick of the Liberals and Nationals deliberate policies to keep wages low. It turns out, during a cost-of-living crisis, that people support fair pay rises for essential workers. Now who would have guessed that? Obviously not those opposite.

We also saw reason for cautious optimism on the inflation challenge this government is dealing with when the inflation data released yesterday showed inflation had slowed to 6.8 per cent. As sure as night follows day, the release of the inflation data was followed by the Australian Industry Group CEO, Innes Willox, calling for real wage cuts. Mr Willox said:

We appear to be on track for further falls in inflationary pressures …

  …   …   …

The data reinforces the need for continued … wage moderation and will add to arguments for wage restraint in the coming National Wage Review …

Of course, this time last year when inflation was on the rise, Mr Willox said:

… it is imperative that inflation is brought back to normal levels—

and—

Further increases in prices or wages will only exacerbate inflationary pressures …

So we need wage restraint when inflation is falling, but we also need wage restraint when inflation is rising. Mr Willox has become a parody of himself. The Liberals, the Nationals and the Australian Industry Group have never seen an economic challenge that couldn't be solved by cutting wages and working Australians have simply had a gutful of it.