Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Lalor for moving a motion today in light of how it's now 1 July and the final countdown is now over. This morning, 13.6 million Australian taxpayers woke up to a tax cut, and 2.6 million of those who are on award wages and earn the minimum wage also woke up to a pay rise. Those workers now experiencing their third 1 July under the Albanese Labor government may now be sensing a trend emerging: a trend that is seeing them earn more and, indeed, earn more than they would've if the Morrison government won at the last election.

We've heard over the course of this debate the member for Durack, member for Dawson, member for Cook—maybe I can forgive the member for Cook; he's only just been elected to this place. He's not been here for very long. But I have to say that the member for Durack has been here long enough to understand the policy settings by which their government went about oppressing wage growth in this country. I see a chuckle from the member for Riverina over there. He loves to come into this place and talk about how he's been a union member for 21 years and is so proud of it. I've heard it so many times I can't forget it!

The reality is that, before I came to this place, which was only two years ago, I did work at a union, representing some of the lowest-paid workers in the transport sector. What really gets my gripe on this is that it was a deliberate design feature of the previous government to keep wages down. For my electorate of Spence, where 74,000 people are going to get a bigger tax cut this year, they had to go through that period in 2013 when the then treasurer, Joe Hockey, along with the prime minister of the time—Abbott—decided to threaten GMH to walk away from car manufacturing. It left an absolute hole in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. It ripped carnage through my electorate. We were promised by Tony Abbott that there would be a new horizon and new job offerings, but they never came. We have some of the most disadvantaged people in the country in my electorate, earning some of the lowest wages, and to hear that there was a deliberate design feature to keep wages down is nothing short of appalling. It is absolutely disgusting that you can come into the chamber and think that that's okay.

These are people who today have received a $33.10 increase to their weekly pay packet. It's a significant increase and it makes a huge difference. I know there's a lot of joking that goes on in this place, but laughing about low- and middle-income earners who are doing it tough right now—it's no laughing matter. Every day, when I get up and get out in my electorate, I have to listen and talk to these people who are doing it tough. I am extremely proud of the work that our government has done over the last two years. There have been three consecutive pay rises under the annual wage review, and that has only been possible because of the advocacy of this government. The last increase, at 3.75 per cent, is significant.

I can hear the member for Riverina huffing and puffing. He does this to me all the time when I'm sitting in the chair! But the reality is that those people that are on low wages right now do need a lot more help, and that's what we are doing. That's why we have delivered bigger tax cuts under this government. That's why we advocated for an annual wage review increase above CPI. That's why we have been able to deliver it three times consecutively now. I'm extremely proud that that's what we've been able to achieve. That's what good Labor governments do: we deliver for working-class Australians, for mums and dads, for people doing it tough out there. So I do stand here as a proud member of a Labor government today, extremely proud of what we've been able to deliver in the way of tax cuts but equally as proud of delivering an increase of 3.75 per cent to some of the lowest-paid workers in this country both on the minimum wage and on awards. With that, I thank the House.

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