Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Finance, Senator Gallagher. On 21 February the Fair Work Commission said that the 15 per cent increase for aged-care workers should be paid in full from 1 July 2023. Minister, will the Commonwealth commit to funding that 15 per cent increase, in full, from 1 July 2023 and will that include on costs such as funding for leave and superannuation?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government has said that we will fund that aged-care case. I thank you, Senator Rice, for the opportunity to again contrast the approach that we're taking in government as opposed to them when they were in, where they pursued vulnerable low-income Australians and threatened them with prison for an illegal scheme that they knew was illegal. That is the approach.

We are making room in our budget to fund priorities like aged-care wages. We had asked for a phased-in approach, just, again, to smooth our budget situation because of the impact. The cost to the budget is a multibillion-dollar cost. We've made some provision for that and we'll have a look at how much we have to adjust that for the budget, going forward. But, yes, we have said we will fully fund it because we value the work of aged-care workers and we understand they are underpaid. Unlike those opposite—for whom a deliberate design feature of their economic architecture was keeping wages suppressed—we do believe that those on low wages, like aged-care workers and other workers, deserve the support of their government. You will see a significant commitment in this budget to fund the costs of that case.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Rice, your first supplementary?

Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks, Minister. I just want clarification that when you say you will fully fund it you are talking about fully funding it in that first financial year, not spreading it out over two financial years, as originally proposed. That's good news, so I'm wondering whether you would be willing to go further, because the Health Services Union, of course, has called for a 25 per cent increase in wages, and, as we know, the aged-care workforce is really low paid. Why would the government continue with the stage 3 tax cuts rather than fund the full amount that aged-care workers really need?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Rice for the question. There is a further stage to the Fair Work Commission case. This is the culmination of stages 1 and 2 on the aged-care case that has come up. The initial increase of 15 per cent was a stage 1 decision. Regarding stage 2, the commission has come back saying it thinks it should be paid on 1 July and should include some other workers in that arrangement. Now there's a subsequent process to consider the rest of the case.

You can see from the commitments we've made to date and the room that I'm currently trying to find in the budget to fund this, against these crazy attacks from the opposition, who prefer a head-in-the-sand approach to funding aged-care things—that is, don't fund them or argue against them—that we are making difficult decisions to be able to fund aged-care workers appropriately. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Rice, your second supplementary?

Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks, Minister. The royal commission estimated that implementing their recommendations in full would cost in the order of $10 billion a year annually, and the latest official figures show that aged-care providers are operating at an average loss of $28 per resident per day. In terms of finding room in the budget, abandoning the stage 3 tax cuts would free up an extra $25 billion per year on average. So will the government find room in the budget by abandoning the Scott Morrison tax cuts? (Time expired)

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In answer to that question, our policy on those tax cuts hasn't changed. We are focused on making sure multinationals can pay their fair share of tax, and of course we'll look to legislate the arrangements for the superannuation changes that we announced last week. They are the areas that we have been focused on.

We are also going through the budget line by line. It is my job and the Treasurer's job and the ERC's job to look at ways that we can make room for all of the priorities and for all of the services that the Australian people value. We know they value aged care, we know they value Medicare and we know they value hospital care. That is a difficult job, and it requires, at times, some difficult decisions. But we are responsible. We are fiscally responsible. We are dealing with the decade of budget vandalism that went on from those opposite, and we are making those difficult decisions. (Time expired)