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

Labor has always been the only party for working people, and we are delivering record pay rises for every Australian worker. Since Labor was elected we've delivered minimum wage increases of $143 per week or $7,450 per year. We've also delivered record increases to award wages. The average full-time award worker now receives $5.30 more an hour. That's an extra $200 per week or $10,400 per year. That's right: a pay rise of $10,000 per year on average for millions of Australians reliant on awards and minimum wage. That includes workers in retail, hospitality, fast food, aged care, disability, transport, construction, warehousing, cleaning and many more.

The Liberals and Nationals opposed every single one of these pay rises. The opposition leader, Mr Dutton, said he opposed our workplace reforms because, 'It's going to result in higher wages.' Well, Mr Dutton, that's correct. Labor is delivering higher wages, and we'll make no apology for it.

We've also passed laws giving more job security to casuals and people on short-term contracts. And we've passed same job, same pay for labour hire workers. Just yesterday, the mining union won a pay rise of $20,000 for hundreds of labour hire workers at Callide coalmine in Central Queensland.

The Liberals, Nationals and One Nation opposed every single one of these reforms and are committed to repealing them. I dare you to front up to those miners and tell them you'll take their $20,000 away, and I'll set the date for the meeting myself.