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

My thanks go to Senator Walsh for that question. I might start by making a point about jobs and wages. As I said in response to Senator Hume, we've seen, since we were elected, more than a million jobs created. It's the first time any government has seen the creation of a million new jobs in a parliamentary term. We've seen a near-record number of women in jobs and the smallest gender pay gap on record. We've seen real wages grow more in the past 12 months alone than they did during the entire decade of the former coalition government. So real wages are growing under us—under them, not so much. In fact, we all remember Senator Cormann and the inside voice that came out when he talked about what the coalition's real plan was—that is, lower wages are a deliberate design feature of their economic plan.

In terms of inflation, we absolutely understand the challenge inflation places on an economy, on families and on people. That is why we have worked hard through the budget process not only to put downward pressure on inflation but also to deliver cost-of-living relief. I would again make this point: inflation is at much less than half of what we inherited and around a third of its peak.

Senator Walsh also talked about cost-of-living support. She's part of a government that has delivered bigger tax cuts for Australians—a tax cut for every Australian worker. Senator Walsh knows a lot about early childhood education and the people who work in that sector. Senator Walsh knows, Labor senators know and workers know that we are delivering increases for childcare educators at the same time as we are delivering cheaper child care. We have delivered energy rebates. People will remember in this chamber those opposite voting against energy price relief for Australian families. Fee-free TAFE and more bulk-billed— (Time expired)