Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher. A key platform of the Albanese Labor government was to get wages moving again. Minister, could you outline how the government's policies since taking office have contributed to the return of real wages growth? How does this help address the cost-of-living pressures Australians are experiencing?

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

I thank Senator Sheldon for the question and acknowledge his career in advocating for working people across this country and ensuring that they get fair wages for the work that they do. We said we would get wages moving again and we are. Real wages growth is back and ahead of schedule, because the Albanese government wants people to earn more and keep more of what they earn.

Annual real wages growth increased at the end of last year for the first time in almost three years and, for the first time since 2018, we've seen three consecutive quarters of real wages growth. Since the election, nominal wages have been growing at an annualised average of four per cent, compared to 2.2 per cent under the Liberal government. This is a substantial turnaround in just 18 months. It means that real wages growth returned faster than forecast by Treasury—at the end of 2023, rather than at the beginning of 2024. Stronger wages growth is a result of the government's policies to lift wages for workers, including our support for record increases to the minimum wage, which has increased by $110 a week under Labor; a 5.75 per cent pay rise for workers on awards in 2023 and 4.6 per cent in 2022; the highest-ever pay rise for aged-care workers, who had long argued the case for better wages—a 15 per cent wage increase, and it took a Labor government to deliver that; and significant investments in new industries to create secure, well-paid jobs.

We are improving job security and pay equity for Australian women, and the gender pay gap has fallen to a record low of 12 per cent. Last week's new numbers are very welcome, but we know that people are still under pressure, which is why Labor's cost-of-living tax cuts will be so important when they pass the Senate later this week.