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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Senator Watt. The Albanese government was elected on a platform of getting wages moving again after a decade of deliberately low wages under the Liberals and Nationals. What have been the results of the Albanese government's actions so far to get wages moving?

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

Thank you, Senator Walsh. As I've said before, she, like many in this chamber, has dedicated her life to working for working people, unlike those that we see in the opposition who have dedicated their careers to keeping wages low. The Albanese government's No. 1 priority is addressing inflation and cost-of-living pressures.

We know a lot of people are doing it tough in Australia right now, and that's why we're doing as much as we possibly can to assist. It's why we're delivering targeted relief while not adding to inflation. That includes delivering electricity bill relief, which was opposed by the opposition; making medicines cheaper, which was opposed by the opposition; delivering cheaper child care, which was opposed by the opposition; and, importantly, ensuring wages rise at the fastest rate in a decade, including for minimum-wage and aged-care workers.

Unlike those opposite, the Albanese Labor government is also committed to helping Australians deal with cost-of-living pressures through higher wages. As I've said, we know that a lot of people are doing it tough right now, and ensuring that people have higher wages is an important part of making sure that they can deal with cost-of-living pressures.

The facts don't suit the opposition, because the facts show that wages are moving again under the Albanese Labor government. We've had two consecutive quarters of real wage growth. The latest wage growth data is at four per cent. Under those opposite, it averaged just 2.1 per cent. Under the opposition there was half the wage growth that we are now seeing under the Albanese Labor government. That's because of things like aged-care workers receiving an historic 15 per cent wage rise from the Fair Work Commission, supported by the Albanese government. We've seen increases to award wages. Under the opposition, it was 4.6 per cent in 2022. Under Labor, it was 5.75 per cent in 2023. We've seen the gender pay gap reduced to the lowest it has ever been an Australian history. Meanwhile, we still see unemployment remain at an historic low of 3.7 per cent.

We know people are doing it tough. We need to do more, but we're delivering higher wages again.

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

Thank you, Minister Watt. Senator Walsh, a first supplementary?

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

My constituents are telling me that wage increases are front of mind as they grapple with cost-of-living challenges. What have been the barriers to getting wages moving, and how is the Albanese government working to overcome them?

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

Literally, the barriers to higher wage growth are looking us in the face. There they are, every single one of them, looking at us bemoaning the fact that Australians are getting higher wages again, including two consecutive quarters of real wage growth. We know that, for those opposite, keeping wages low was a deliberate design feature for the entire time they were in office. Compare the approaches that the respective governments took to the annual wage review for Australia's lowest-paid workers. Under the Albanese government, we said that the Fair Work Commission should ensure that the wages of our lowest-paid workers do not go backwards. What did we see under the coalition? Not only did they say that low wages were a deliberate design feature but there was a subheading in their submission on the minimum wage labelled 'The importance of low-paid work'. Do you know how important it was for low-paid workers? It was very important to make sure they could get wage rises to deal with cost-of-living pressures. And while we know there is more to be done, the Albanese government is delivering those higher wages.

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

Senator Walsh, a second supplementary?

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

Low wages were a deliberate design feature of the Liberal and Nationals economic architecture. Why is it important that working Australians have strong and secure wages?

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

(—) (): It is vital that Australians, like those sitting in the public gallery today, get the wages that they deserve, get the higher wages they deserve that enable them to deal with cost-of-living pressures. That is why we were so pleased to have seen two consecutive quarters of real wage growth—wages lifting above inflation. We know the job is not done. We know that Australians are dealing with cost-of-living pressures and more needs to be done but we also know on this side of the chamber that higher wages are part of dealing with that. But it would appear there are some members at least on the opposite side who still have yet to learn the lesson, because we all heard Senator Hume yesterday interject, saying that wage rises push up inflation too—talk about saying the quiet bit out loud! What we now know from Senator Hume, the shadow finance minister, and the entire opposition, is that, if they were ever re-elected to government, it would be back to low wages. They still oppose higher wages. They still think low wages are a deliberate design feature of their economic policy, and all those people in the gallery would be getting lower wages if they ever get back into government.