Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

There are 624,000 new jobs, and I could go on. But one of the ones I want to focus on is the fact that we are seeing wages rising at the fastest rate in a decade, including for minimum-wage workers and aged-care workers. Don't those opposite hate that? Don't they hate that? Even Senator Hume, just the other day, this week again, was telling us what she and the coalition really think—'We can't have higher wages; it might lead to higher inflation.

You have always been against higher wages for working people, and you are today. This side stands absolutely committed to providing better wages and working conditions for Australians. That is a contribution to the cost of living for Australians, something you will never understand because you hate backing wage increases, don't you, Senator Hume?