Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Barton for her question and for her ongoing commitment to supporting Aussie workers. At the heart of this government's tax reforms in our budget is a rebalancing of the tax system to support working Australians, because they deserve our support. From July this year—and next year—every taxpayer will receive a tax cut because of our government.

To support working Australians, we're cutting taxes by introducing a new $250 tax cut through the introduction of the working Australians tax offset. This means more money in the pockets of our nurses, teachers, retail assistants, cleaners and other Australians who earn salaries and wages. On top of this, our budget also delivers on our commitment to introduce a $1,000 instant tax deduction. This will make tax time more simple for millions of workers. The combination of these tax cuts means the average worker will benefit by up to $2,800 a year.

Not only are we supporting Australian workers through tax cuts; we're also taking action to improve and protect workers' wages. Our government has introduced same job, same pay, which is now delivering pay rises for thousands of Australian workers across this country. We've legislated to protect penalty and overtime rates, which make up an important part of many Australians' pay packets. We've backed our lowest paid workers at the Fair Work Commission each and every year we've been in government. Under our government, the minimum wage has increased by more than $9,000, and we've introduced significant reforms to reinvigorate enterprise bargaining, which is a key source of wages growth.

This government has introduced new standards that ensure gig workers don't have to rely on tips to survive, and we've backed and funded pay increases for early educators and age carers. Not only is this government supporting working people through tax cuts and higher wages; we're also supporting more Australians to get the opportunity for a job. Our government will help more people get a job with our biggest reform to employment services in 30 years, and we've delivered funding in this budget to start the reform process. It is only a Labor government that backs working Australians and is supporting more Australians into jobs.

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