John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Let me start again. The real wages of Australian workers have risen by 16.8 per cent over the last 9½ years. In real terms, the federal minimum wage has risen by more than 12 per cent under the coalition. Australia’s consistent economic growth and tax cuts in recent years have resulted in an increase in the disposable income of the average Australian production worker. They are the people the Labor Party used to be interested in before they abandoned them and embraced the chattering classes. There was a time when the Labor Party could speak with some heart and authenticity about production workers in this country, but they have long since ceased to bother about representing their interests in the Australian community.

Let me remind the House that average household incomes in Australia have grown by no less than 20.7 per cent in real terms over the period 1994 to 2003-04. The real income of low- and middle-income households—let me emphasise this—has increased by a proportionately greater amount: that is, by 22 per cent. In other words, the Labor Party like to chatter and interject on a point like this—let them go ahead and try to silence me from reminding the Parliament of Australia that under this government the people have enjoyed the greatest increase in household disposable income—

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