Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

And I can hear them chirping away. They should chirp up and say that, when we came to office, real wages were falling, living standards were falling, per person incomes were falling, inflation was rising and interest rates were already going up, and we have been turning all of that around. The reason incomes are growing in our economy—and living standards, too—is our tax cuts and our wage rises, combined with the Reserve Bank's three interest rate cuts in six months. Because of our efforts, the wages share of national income is now 54 per cent. When we came to office the wages share of national income was less than half. Now it's 54 per cent. That's not accidental. That is deliberate. We have got in our economy now the equal-fastest through-the-year economic growth compared with any major advanced economy, and we've got much faster employment growth than any major advanced economy. These are very welcome, encouraging numbers. They show the progress that we've made together. They show that we've been delivering on all of the things we identified as the government's priorities, but we know there is still more work to do.

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