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

As I was saying, unlike those opposite, who drove car manufacturing into the ground, we are taking action to help Australian business to grow, and we're making sure that manufacturing workers prosper at the same time. That's why we're taking such action on cost-of-living pressures and we're improving job security, and that is why we are giving Australian manufacturing workers a tax cut.

What does it mean in practice? Well, Senator Pratt, you'd be aware—I'm sure you've had a Bundaberg ginger beer over the years. Let's look at that. It's a business that I know Senator Chisholm, as well, is very familiar with, in my state of Queensland.

An entry level worker on the Bundaberg production line or in the brewhouse or in the warehouse—the people who make the magic happen—makes around $50,000 a year. With Labor's tax cuts, a worker at that plant will be $955 a year better off. Those opposite have been happy to accuse the government of stifling ambition, not believing in aspiration and discouraging workers from improving their lot in life. If that worker at Bundaberg gains the experience to get an even higher paid job at $65,000 a year, they will be over $1,300 a year better off as a result of Labor's tax cuts.