Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Tak, formand, and thank you, Mr Speaker. There are 2.7 million Australians on the minimum wage and award reliant. They are the Australians that help keep our communities clean. They are the Australians that help look after and educate our littlest ones. They are the Australians that help prepare food. In Queensland there are 561,600 of them, over 22 per cent of the workforce. In my local electorate of Moreton on Brisbane's south side, there are 7,000 people on the Retail Industry Award, and they work for organisations including St David's Neighbourhood Centre, which uses the social and community services award, the SCHACDS award, for staff providing vital community services, services that we need and services that our community uses every single day. These workers matter. These workers deserve fair wages. These workers deserve a good life and dignity, and Labor has always been their champion.

Labor's submission to the Annual Wage Review with the Fair Work Commission is what I want to talk about tonight because it's an economically sustainable real wage increase that this Labor government is asking for which will help lift living standards of some of the lowest paid workers in our Australian community. It's consistent with the RBA's target band, and the government's submission does not recommend a specific wage. We understand that the Fair Work Commission is independent, but what we seek is that the Fair Work Commission considers the economic conditions, the needs of those who are paid lowly and the various stakeholder submissions that back those workers in. Why? Because so many award wage workers are in low paid roles. They work fewer hours, they have fewer financial buffers to protect them, to fall back on in tough times. These workers are more susceptible to cost-of-living challenges. And we know right now that the cost of living is biting. It's impacting on people. And whether that's increased fuel prices, whether that's higher grocery prices, whether that's bigger bills, these are the working Australians who need dignity and a fair wage more than anything.

This submission is in contrast to what those across the chamber did when they were in government. Low wages were a deliberate design feature of their economic architecture. Annual real wages fell again and again and again and again for five consecutive quarters before Labor came to office. Real wages were going backwards by 3.5 per cent in May 2022 and living standards were falling by 1.5 per cent.

Labor has always championed working people. That's why, since we came to government in 2022, Labor's recommendations for real wage increases have seen cumulative increases of more than $9,000 for minimum wage workers. The minimum wage is now $175.40 a week higher than in May 2022. That's real money, a real impact on people's hip pockets and a real shot in the arm for workers who need it most.

The LISTO is increasing by $310 to $810. We've seen the longest consecutive period of annual wage growth—eight quarters in a decade. Annual nominal wages have grown above three per cent for 14 quarters in a row. Living standards grew two per cent to the December 2025 quarter, and OECD data shows that they are growing at more than twice the average of major advanced economies.

More than 1.2 million jobs have been created under this government, with more than four out of five in the private sector. Average unemployment under the Albanese government is the lowest of any government in half a century. In my first speech to this place I said that the economy has to work for everyday people every day. That has never been truer than now and has never been truer than of this Labor government.

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