Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Literally, the barriers to higher wage growth are looking us in the face. There they are, every single one of them, looking at us bemoaning the fact that Australians are getting higher wages again, including two consecutive quarters of real wage growth. We know that, for those opposite, keeping wages low was a deliberate design feature for the entire time they were in office. Compare the approaches that the respective governments took to the annual wage review for Australia's lowest-paid workers. Under the Albanese government, we said that the Fair Work Commission should ensure that the wages of our lowest-paid workers do not go backwards. What did we see under the coalition? Not only did they say that low wages were a deliberate design feature but there was a subheading in their submission on the minimum wage labelled 'The importance of low-paid work'. Do you know how important it was for low-paid workers? It was very important to make sure they could get wage rises to deal with cost-of-living pressures. And while we know there is more to be done, the Albanese government is delivering those higher wages.