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

I acknowledge Senator Walsh's long career in ensuring that particularly those on lower incomes get appropriate wage increases for the important work that they do. We said we'd get wages moving again, and we are. Under this government, wages are growing at their fastest rate in a decade. Today's data showed that the wage price index rose 1.3 per cent in the September quarter 2023 and four per cent for the year. This is the fastest quarterly growth in the 26-year history of the wage price index, and the fastest annual growth since 2009, when Labor was last in government. While quarterly figures can be volatile, we have also seen real wages growth for the last two quarters.

This government will always support Australian workers getting a pay rise, which is why we helped secure a pay rise for minimum-wage workers last year, despite the scare campaign of those opposite. It's why we supported a wage rise for aged-care workers. It's why we're supporting sustainable wages growth through our productivity-enhancing investments, including in skills and training. It's also why last year the government passed the secure jobs, better pay legislation—to improve job security and to get wages moving again.

As we know and as, I think, most Australians know, there's a big difference between the approach we have taken in government and the approach that was taken by those opposite when they were in government, who had low wage growth as a deliberate design feature of their economic architecture. We won't ever forget that. Keeping wages low was a deliberate decision of that former government. In our 18 months in office, we have made a number of changes, including legislation and policy changes, to make sure that we are doing what we can to ensure that Australian workers get a fair pay rise. (Time expired)