Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I note the opposition's focus on the Regis Resources decision in question time today and in taking note of answers to questions. Of course, as the minister said, this is a decision of the kind that has been made by both parties of government. This is a decision that does not, in fact, stop the development of the mine at this particular site. As a government we believe in creating jobs, including in mining, without destroying Aboriginal heritage sites. Our belief is that we can support jobs in mining—we can support the 300,000 people who work in mining, who do that critical work—without destroying Aboriginal cultural heritage sites.

We support those jobs and we support those people who work in the mining sector, but we do not support the destruction of sacred sites. We in the Albanese Labor government will continue to support jobs in mining, just like we support jobs across the economy. At the same time, we'll support proper consultation and the proper protection of sites. The 300,000 Australians who work in the mining industry are a really important part of our economy, and we will always back jobs on our side of the chamber. That's why I am so proud that, as Minister Watt said, 990,000 jobs have been created on our watch. This is the biggest number of jobs created by any first-term government ever. It is the most from any first-term government on record.

As Senator Reynolds said in her contribution, we are looking forward to investing more in our critical minerals sector. We want to add value to our critical minerals. We want to create more jobs by making more of what we need right here in Australia. So I'm really looking forward to Senator Reynolds and those opposite supporting our important legislation to do just that—our Future Made in Australia legislation, which is making its way through the House and making its way to the Senate through the Senate economics committee.

We are extremely proud of our record in supporting Australians to get into jobs. Nine hundred and ninety thousand jobs is an extraordinary achievement by this government, by employers and by all the people who are taking up the opportunity to work in those jobs. And these jobs are better paid than they have been, compared with the record of those opposite. We are now seeing wages moving again in this country. Wages are now moving four per cent year on year, which is a fantastic result to see after 10 years of low wages as a deliberate design feature of the economy under those opposite.

More people are in jobs, more people are earning more and, yes, people are keeping more of what they earn too. That's because we decided to take the Liberals' stage 3 tax cuts that were just for some and make sure that every single Australian taxpayer got a tax cut—an average of over $1,800 a year for Australian taxpayers.

That is what is actually going on in our economy today under the Albanese Labor government. There are 990,000 new jobs—almost a million new jobs. Wages are now moving four per cent year on year. We've had three consecutive quarters of real wages growth because inflation is moderating and wages are moving ahead of inflation. This is real money in real people's pockets. We know that they are also keeping more of it because we decided to make sure that we would deliver a tax cut for every single Australian taxpayer, not just some. We decided that we would back wage rises for minimum wage workers—$140 a week extra for minimum wage workers since we took office. I note the contribution from Senator Gallagher today, saying that Australian women are earning on average $173 a week more because we back jobs for women, we back them earning more and we back them keeping more of what they earn too.