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

I thank Senator Walsh for her question and for her excellent chairing of the Senate Economics Committee.

The Albanese Labor government's recent May budget was, indeed, a significant step in laying the foundation for a stronger economy into the future. It was a budget that targeted cost-of-living relief. It targeted Medicare and the care economy. It looked at inclusion and equality. It focused on growth in energy, technology, small business and, of course, and importantly, under my portfolio as the Minister for Finance, responsible budget management and, more broadly, responsible economic management. It's a budget that was about jobs, about growth and about fairness.

We've seen record employment growth, with wages growing faster and more people getting wage rises since we came to office. Our plan and the recent budget have helped to deliver record employment growth, lifting incomes and building a more prosperous and resilient economy. We have seen wages grow by 3.7 per cent over the year to March quarter, the fastest growth in over a decade. It's unsurprising, considering it was a deliberate design feature of the former government's economic architecture to keep wages low. We've also seen 60 per cent of jobs record a higher wage rise than the year before—the highest proportion on record and around double the pre-pandemic average. This is not by accident but by design, because our policy isn't to keep wages low like those opposite. It's a testament to our commitment to not only create jobs but also ensure that these jobs are well paying and secure. You can see that the single biggest investment in the budget was in our aged-care workforce to ensure that they receive the wage increases that they deserve for the work that they do, caring for elderly Australians. We also had our $14.6 billion cost-of-living package, with support around energy bills, reducing out-of-pocket health costs, income support payments and the single biggest increase in Commonwealth rent assistance. (Time expired)