Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Unlike the member for Goldstein, I'm going to talk about 'inclusive economy' as opposed to 'exclusive economy'. Yesterday we saw the Productivity Commission release their five-year productivity report into Australia's productivity and economic growth. Let's just say this review is more like a report card on the five years that we have had under the Abbott-Turnbull governments. What is clear from this report card is that the Abbott-Turnbull governments have received Fs across the board: wage growth, fail; support for universities, fail; support for education, fail; investment in health, fail.

The Abbott-Turnbull governments have failed Australia because they have failed to understand a vital notion, a notion that was outlined on page 30 of the Productivity Commission's review:

A key issue will be to ensure that future economic, social and environmental policies sustain inclusive growth—

a phrase the Turnbull government probably aren't too familiar with, and we've just heard that, considering it includes the term 'inclusive'. So allow me to educate those opposite in the Turnbull government on what 'inclusive' really means. 'Inclusive' does not just relate to the wealthy and the elite. 'Inclusive' does not relate to billionaires and millionaires. And 'inclusivity' is certainly not about providing a $65 billion tax cut to big business. 'Inclusive' means all, everyone, every citizen, all Australians—workers, pensioners, students, teachers, nurses, tradies, electricians, small business owners.

Labor has always understood that investment in people and our human capital is key to economic growth. You cannot have a strong economy without a thriving and inclusive society. That is why it has only ever been Labor that has invested in education, universities, health care and jobs. That is the backbone of who we are. But the Turnbull government does not care about all Australians, and this is very evident with its Medicare levy. This government wants to reduce the taxes for big business by $44 billion over the next decade, with the Medicare levy rise hitting workers who earn as little as $21,000 a year. Quite simply, the Turnbull government is giving away $65 billion in tax cuts to big business but slugging working Australians with a $44 billion income tax hike. This government's tax increase will mean a worker on $55,000 will pay an extra $275 tax a year. It is clear that the Turnbull government is not at all interested in inclusive growth when it is implementing government policies and tax increases that detrimentally affect this vulnerable group of people. The Turnbull government is completely blinded by trickle-down economics. Well, there is something trickling down on Australian workers, but it certainly isn't wealth!

This government needs to stop treating workers like they are fools. Workers know the facts, but allow me to enlighten the government about these facts. Wage growth hasn't been this low since the retention of records started. Since 1975, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has collected data on earnings inequality. Profits have gone up by 40 per cent, wages by less than two per cent. Real wages have grown by 72 per cent for the top 10 per cent.

In 1975, the top ten per cent of earners earned twice as much as the bottom 10 per cent, yet by 2014 they earned nearly three times as much. If low-wage earners had enjoyed the same percentage gains as the highest paid, they would be $16,000 a year better off. The richest one per cent of Australians collectively own more wealth than 70 per cent of Australian citizens combined. So what will the Turnbull government do regarding this massive issue of wage growth? When will wages go up? When asked during a national radio interview last week, the Prime Minister said, 'When businesses are able to, when the economy is growing fast enough and strongly enough so that businesses are able to afford to pay more for labour.' That rambling answer is simply not good enough. And the government's $65 billion tax cut is not good enough either. This farce of a tax cut will only provide one per cent of growth in 20 years' time. That policy is a joke to all Australians.

The Turnbull government is a government that puts profits before people. It is not a government for low-income workers. It is certainly not a government that cares about inclusivity for all Australian citizens, because, under the Turnbull government, workers not only will be taxed more but will certainly be paid less.

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