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

Senator Sheldon, a first supplementary?

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

I'd like to say hello to 'Wacka' Williams as well. Minister, how does a rise in real wages work in concert with the government's other targeted cost-of-living relief measures, including Labor's tax cuts plan that would deliver all Australians who pay tax a tax cut from 1 July?

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. I also acknowledge Wacka in the gallery. I'm sure he's been missing us very much.

Under the Albanese Labor government there are more people in jobs, they're earning more and, with our tax plan, they'll keep more of what they earn. Labor's tax cuts will deliver a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer. That's 13.6 million people. Labor's tax cut will deliver a bigger tax cut for Middle Australia to help with the cost of living. This builds on our other measures to target cost-of-living relief while not adding to inflation. Despite opposition from the Liberals and Nationals, we've already delivered electricity bill relief. We've made medicines cheaper. We're making it easier and cheaper to see a doctor. There's cheaper child care. We're expanding parental leave. We're building more social and affordable homes and we're increasing rent assistance. There's fee-free TAFE. All of these measures have received opposition from those opposite.

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

Senator Sheldon, a second supplementary?

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

Given the government's targeted cost-of-living measures, including cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, pay rises for aged-care workers and tax cuts, could the minister elaborate on how these initiatives are aimed at not only reducing cost-of-living pressures on Australians but also securing sustainable wage growth for working people?

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 it's an important one because it goes to how we can make sure people are earning more for the work that they do. For too long, under the former government, workers weren't getting a fair wage increase. We saw wages stagnate. We saw annual wages growth of around two per cent. In the public sector it was in the order of about 1.2 per cent over the decade, so they were falling behind.

What we've done in our first 18 months is support those cost-of-living measures which don't add to inflation, but we've also put in place the architecture to make sure that workers are getting a fair pay rise. Our cost-of-living policies have helped to deliver that sooner because our policies have helped put downward pressure on inflation, and we saw that in the ABS data. Because we're putting downward pressure on inflation, we've seen those good wage figures in the last week. But we know people are under pressure, which is why we remain focused on the job at hand, which is to ease cost-of-living pressures on the Australian community.