House debates

Thursday, 30 March 2017

Questions without Notice

Workplace Relations

3:13 pm

Photo of Malcolm TurnbullMalcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Well, it is a penetrating glimpse of the obvious. She could also claim it is plagiarism. Labor's 2011 submission: 'Low-paid individuals are also distributed across the household-income distribution and are not necessarily concentrated in the lowest household-income decile.' That was 2011. Labor!

In Labor's 2012 submission, for example, around half of all low-paid workers lived in the top six household income deciles. Of course, from 2013, the panel should also consider the fact that all low-paid workers do not necessarily live in low-income households. That is a fact. The honourable member for Fenner wrote about that. It is one of the factors to be taken into account by the Fair Work Commission. The reality is, as the member for Fenner has observed and previous governments have observed, that our means-tested tax and transfer system is the primary means for addressing income inequality. But, plainly, all of those factors will be taken into account by the independent umpire, and, in the final analysis, the best form of welfare is getting a job. Everything we are doing is creating jobs.

Ms Husar interjecting

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