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

As you may have noticed, there is no limit to how many times we will talk about the actions of the Albanese government to ensure that Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn. This is something that opposition senators are going to need to get used to for the remainder of this term. We are going to talk about it over and over again because it's something so many Australians are looking forward to.

To help Australians earn more, the Albanese Labor government has consistently backed low-paid workers through the annual wage reviews in 2022, 2023 and now in 2024. What a contrast to the nearly 10 years of coalition government that we had, with a government that refused to actively engage itself in the Fair Work Commission's decisions about the minimum wage. It's no wonder, therefore, that we saw wage suppression in this country, especially for low-paid workers, for the nearly 10 years they were in office.

It is a good thing that now, under a Labor government—the Albanese Labor government—we have a government that is prepared to roll its sleeves up, put forward submissions and put forward an argument to the Fair Work Commission, as we have done each year since we have been in office. As a result of that action, the minimum wage for a full-time worker in Australia is now $110 higher than when we came to office.

We understand that low paid workers, more than anyone in our community, are feeling the pinch from cost-of-living pressures. How much worse off would they be if we hadn't taken the action that we took to support a wage rise for the minimum wage? That is now bearing fruit, with people receiving $110 more than what they were receiving when we took office.

And they don't like it. They don't like a government getting involved and fighting for fairer wages for workers. The same approach that we've taken this year, a submission to the Fair Work Commission, that the wages—