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

Thanks, Senator Walsh, and don't we enjoy it when we hear the moaning over the other side every time we talk about the fact that, under Labor, you'll earn more and keep more of what you earn and, under the coalition, you'll earn less and work more. The reason they groan about it is that they're so embarrassed about their record and they're embarrassed about the fact that they still haven't worked out that it was time to shift policy when they lost the election. We know that, if this mob are ever re-elected to government, they will continue their traditional policies of keeping wages low, keeping conditions low and letting the gap between rich and poor get even wider. They have now voted against higher wages for workers more than 27 times in this term of parliament alone, and today we heard the member for New England, who we know still wants to come back as the National Party leader, continue describing pay rises for low-paid workers as window-dressing. Well, I don't think that pay rises for low-paid workers are window-dressing, and no-one on the Labor side does either. Under Labor, you'll keep more of what you earn.