Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Fair Work Commission has delivered a 5.2 per cent rise in the minimum wage, slightly above headline inflation;

(b) its decision means an extra $40 a week for full-time workers on the minimum wage or low-paid awards; and

(c) many low-paid workers are young, female, in casual employment, and are far more likely to find themselves experiencing financial hardship, and many of them are on the frontline delivering essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic;

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) the Government put forward its own submission to the Fair Work Commission advocating for an immediate wage increase for Australia's low-paid workers;

(b) for nearly a decade, low wages were a deliberate design feature of the former Government; and

(c) high and rising inflation, and weak wages growth are reducing real wages across the economy and creating cost-of-living pressures for Australia's low-paid workers; and

(3) congratulates the:

(a) Government's action as Australia's low-paid workers will be better off because the Government fought to get them a pay rise; and

(b) Government on its position that it does not want to see Australian workers go backwards.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, it was a big one and it needed to be. The Fair Work Commission's most recent decision delivered a 5.2 per cent rise to minimum wage workers, which is slightly above inflation. But, depending on what the inflation figures are when we next see the accounts, it will be below inflation. It works out to be about $40 a week for a full-time worker on minimum wage and for those on low-pay awards. In some other industries, it's slightly less, depending upon where they actually sit. It works out to be about an extra dollar an hour—that's what we're talking about.

It's relief for a lot of these hardworking people. They're in industries like cleaning; they're in industries like security. They're the people who quite often are the hidden workforce that we have in these places. They include the cleaners and the hospitality workers of this place—people who do a tough job, who are proud of their job but are locked into the minimum wage. So this announcement by Fair Work is relief for so many working people. It helps them get by. It helps them pay their bills.

It wasn't just because our government supported the increase and called for it. The Fair Work Commission recognised that, because of the cost of living, a substantial increase was needed. High and rising inflation and weakening wages growth are reducing people's real wages. We do talk about that a lot. It's something that the other side seems to miss—if real wages don't keep up with the cost of living, people fall behind. They have less in their pay packet to be able to spend on what they need.

This is only the beginning. Our government, in our own submission to Fair Work, said that an immediate wage increase was needed and that we backed the call that it needed to be at least at the rate of inflation so that people didn't fall behind. But what we're also doing, and what came out of the Jobs and Skills Summit that happened last week, is that we've brought industry and business leaders together in a room with unions to say we have to do this better. Far too many workers are stuck on the award minimum, and I reiterate: it should be a minimum and not a ceiling. Productivity has also declined. The way in which we get productivity moving, which is what industry wants to see, and the way we get wages moving is by creating a bargaining framework that works, giving more people the opportunity to bargain.

That is why it is really exciting to see, coming out of the jobs summit, industry and unions and government working together. For the first time in over a decade, there's not one outside being the enemy or being ridiculed or dragged to a royal commission. Everybody is working together, because we have to get real wages moving and we have to get productivity moving. That is what is going to help our economy get back on track.

These people who are trying to survive on the minimum wage are doing it tough at a time when the cost of the basics are going up. It's not just electricity prices or fuel prices going up; your average grocery items are going up. The price of broccoli, at its peak, was $13 or $14. Lettuce was up around the same. The prices of the bare essentials that people need to survive are going up. The cost of child care, if people have their children in child care, is going up. These are all legacy issues, some of which we've inherited from the previous government.

A real wage increase will help people get by. It's about giving working people the dignity of being able to work one job, not multiple jobs, to make ends meet. It's about ensuring that people earn enough. When we think back to when the minimum wage was first introduced, it was introduced through the Harvester dispute way back when, in the Sunshine Harvester Works, with its legacies throughout Victoria. Basically, the judge back then decided that the main income earner should be able to live with their family frugally and afford to cover the costs of accommodation, food and other basics but also afford a holiday. Well, if you talk to a minimum-wage worker right now, you will find that they don't get that. They are struggling. They're struggling to survive.

This wage increase of 5.2 per cent is a relief. It's an extra $1 an hour. But it's not enough to really help people struggling with the costs of living. So I congratulate the government on what they've done and strongly encourage all those speaking to remember that our low-paid workers right now need our support so that they've got the means to live their best life.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a confusing motion. It probably needs to be updated. I note that notice was given on 26 July. In its first line, the motion says:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Fair Work Commission has delivered a 5.2 per cent rise in the minimum wage, slightly above headline inflation …

Well, inflation is at 6.1 per cent. The June quarter's annualised inflation figure was 6.1 per cent. So someone got a little bit overexcited and thought they would be moving a motion to celebrate the achievement of growing real wages for those on the minimum wage. Patently, that's not what is occurring. If inflation is higher than the increase that is being put in place then the real wages of the lowest paid in our society, those on the minimum wage, are actually decreasing. That's simple macroeconomics that I don't think can be disputed. I note that notice of the motion was given on 26 July. It was actually the next day—would you believe it?—that the updated figures were released. Maybe hanging back just one day to check that you were right about that before moving this could have saved the embarrassment. We now have a situation where the mover's not choosing to move an amendment to the motion to make it accurate. Nonetheless, it's not my motion, so that's not my problem. I simply start by pointing out that it is a simple reality that with inflation running at 6.1 per cent in the June quarter—and, unfortunately, the signs are, and the Reserve Bank are indicating that they think, that inflation will potentially be climbing into the 7s—5.2 per cent will not result in a real increase for those earning the minimum wage.

I note also that the motion says:

(3) congratulates the:

…    …    …

(b) Government on its position that it does not want to see Australian workers go backwards …

Well, it's good if that's their position, but they're not achieving it. Australian workers on the minimum wage are going backwards, for exactly the same reason: that inflation is running higher than the increase that was achieved. That's regrettable and it makes the motion inaccurate, unfortunately.

Nonetheless, I don't think there's a debate about the importance of growing real wages. Of course that's what we want to see. We want to see an economy that's growing, and we want to see the growth of that economy shared very much between labour and capital. That's the most important social compact that we have got in our economy: that we all see the benefit and a dividend of the economy growing and, particularly where there's opportunity for productivity increases, that that is flowing through to increases in real wages.

This underscores the very difficult position we're in right now, where inflation is galloping ahead rapidly and there is really no response, at this stage, coming from the government. It will be interesting to see what they'll need to do in the upcoming October budget to dramatically address runaway inflation. With the government not doing anything, we're only going to see the Reserve Bank doing the majority of heavy lifting, which will be through higher interest rates. We don't want to see interest rates any higher than they need to be, and we don't want to see the destruction of people's finances, whether that be through wage reductions—like those we will see with low-paid workers because of inflation versus Fair Work Commission decisions on increases, resulting in negative growth in real wages—or through other impacts of inflation destroying the value of self-funded retirees' savings and the savings of all retired Australians.

Inflation is an enormous challenge to be addressed, and this motion did, when it was relevant, seek to make important points about the significance of increasing real wages. I'm in this building to be a part of growing the wealth of all Australians, and real wages growth is a very important part of that. This government is not achieving that. That is regrettable. They hold the policy levers to do that. Of course, they will have a budget coming out in a little over a month's time. That's the real challenge: to see what the government are going to do to arrest runaway inflation, because we can't have wages chasing inflation rates of seven, eight or nine per cent or whatever they may get to, and we don't want the Reserve Bank being the only people pulling policy levers to address inflation. On the fiscal side, there's a lot that can be done by the government.

This motion, and the fact that it is now so out of date and therefore incorrect, is the best example of how vital the job of the Treasurer is: to do something meaningful in the upcoming budget to achieve an increase in real wages rather than say they're going to do it and, when figures are subsequently released, find out that in fact they have not.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on this important motion, and I thank the member for Bendigo for raising this for debate today, because it is a very important issue. At the time of the federal election in May this year, Australians had suffered through more than two years of COVID. This included people losing their jobs or losing shifts and hours. At the same time, the cost of living and prices for essential items continued to increase. Housing costs and rents were going through the roof. Interest rates were rising for the first time in years. You'd think that, in that climate, a rise in the minimum wage would be a no-brainer. But it was only Labor that openly called for it and supported it. We unashamedly put forward our submission to the Fair Work Commission advocating for an immediate wage increase for Australia's lowest-paid workers. I'm very proud that the Fair Work Commission delivered a 5.2 per cent rise in the minimum wage, slightly above the headline inflation at the time. This translates to around $40 a week difference for full-time workers on the minimum wage or low-paid awards, and this will make a difference to the lives of many of our lowest-paid workers.

Let's not forget that many of these workers are young people and often female. They often find themselves in precarious and casual employment, not knowing from week to week what their shifts are, what they'll be earning et cetera. Many of them are on the front line delivering essential services, and they were there delivering those essential services during our COVID-19 pandemic. They are suffering—suffering real and ongoing financial hardship. These people kept the economy going during the worst of the pandemic in our aged-care homes, hospitality and service industries, and deep-cleaning services.

For nearly a decade, low wages were a deliberate design feature of the former Liberal government. They put policies in place that were designed deliberately to keep wages low. Wages didn't only stagnate—they went backwards, thanks to these policies. The former government wouldn't deal with it. They thought there was no problem with that. This was confirmed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics' latest measure on wage growth, published on 17 August. It showed that the latest wage growth for the June 2022 quarter in both the public and private sectors was the highest since September 2013. During the same period, the gender pay gap has increased. It now sits at 14 per cent. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap index, Australia now ranks 70th in the world for women's financial empowerment. This is a shocking drop, especially when you consider that we rank equal first in the world in female education rates. Clearly, our economy does not currently support many women to participate equally in the workforce. This needs to change.

Every Australian should have the right to secure employment, and they should be paid a wage which allows them to live well and in dignity—not precariously from week to week. When we spoke openly in support of a rise in the minimum wage, it heralded a new way of dealing with this important issue. We recognise that things need to change, and we're acting. In addition to supporting a rise in the minimum wage, Labor have committed to making gender pay equality an objective of the Fair Work Act. We will strengthen the Fair Work Commission's powers to order pay increases for workers in low-paid female-dominated industries.

We on this side of the House recognise that we need both legislative and cultural change, especially following the policies of the past government over the last decade. The Jobs and Skills Summit, which was held last week, demonstrated that for the first time in a very long time we are moving towards change and cooperation. This is more necessary now than ever because there are real structural problems in the Australian economy. According to the latest report by Deloitte Access Economics, business profits grew at double-digit rates over the past year. You might say that's a great thing, but big oil and gas companies almost doubled their profits in six months while wages haven't matched that growth. That's the problem. Some experts say this system is broken— (Time expired)

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too thank the member for Bendigo for moving this motion. The decision by the Fair Work Commission to raise the minimum wage means an extra $40 a week for full-time workers on minimum wage or low-paid awards. In my home state of Tasmania there are close to 76,000 people who are benefitting from the 5.2 per cent rise. With inflation at a 21-year high and real wages falling, every little bit extra helps. The CEO of the Tasmanian Council of Social Service, Adrienne Picone, made the point that this increase recognises the challenges that Tasmanian workers on low incomes are facing with high inflation. I'll come to the issue of high inflation a little bit later.

There was a 5.8 per cent increase in the cost of living over the past year. That's a massive increase in Tasmania, as you, Deputy Speaker Wilkie, and the member for Braddon well know. The cost of living in our state is one of the biggest issues facing our constituents. This rings true in the stories that I and, no doubt, you, Deputy Speaker, and the member for Braddon hear from our constituents across Tasmania—that the financial pressures Tasmanians are under are immense. I hear stories of people having to put groceries back at the checkout. They're putting off visits to the GP. They're cancelling the family day out because it's too expensive to fill the car up with petrol.

Affording the essentials has become increasingly more difficult for Tassie families recently, with the cost of food, housing, health, transport and education all rising. People often talk about Tasmania being a cheaper place to live due to property prices. That's not the case anymore, Deputy Speaker Wilkie, as you would well know, with Hobart being one of the country's fastest rising property price indicators—it is no longer a cheap place to live. We suffer wages in Tasmania that are lower than the Australian average, yet it's more expensive than ever to have a mortgage and pay the rent.

I take this opportunity to echo the calls made over the weekend by Australian Tasmanian Labor leader, Rebecca White, for the Tasmanian government to start getting the basics right when addressing the cost of living. We all have a role to play. We too often hear the Tasmanian state government calling on the federal government to do all the heavy lifting. The state government needs to do its fair share. The skyrocketing cost of living is the biggest issue facing Tasmanians today, perhaps with the exception of health across regional Australia. As Dr Haines, the member for Indi, would know, regional Australia is facing massive issues in terms of health access.

In the face of such pressures, I'm proud to be part of a federal government that fought for the lowest paid workers to get the pay rise they deserve. The very first decision of the Albanese cabinet was to agree on a submission to the Fair Work Commission recommending that Australians get a decent minimum wage increase. It was the very first decision. That set the marker for what this government believes is an important issue going forward—wage justice for Australian workers. The Albanese Labor government does not want to see low-paid workers go backwards. Under the former government, wages were deliberately kept low, and Australian workers were worse off for it.

It needs to be said time and again that wages were deliberately kept low by the former government. It was a deliberate piece of their economic architecture. It wasn't happenstance; it wasn't a coincidence. The former government deliberately wanted to keep wages low because it saw that as a recipe for economic success. Now workers and their families are paying the price after a decade of wage stagnation. That era is over for cleaners, carers, shop assistants and the other heroes of the pandemic who put themselves on the line to keep Australia functioning over the last two and a half years. Workers know they now have a government that will show up and fight for them. Workers have a government that will fight to address issues like weak wage growth, flatlining productivity, the gender pay gap, skills shortage and barriers to work. One example is last week's two-day Jobs and Skills Summit. There were great ideas. More than a hundred Australians came together—building bridges—to try to find a common way forward to get the country out of the mess that we find ourselves in after 10 years of inaction. We have really great hopes for the future out of that.

Finally, I want to come to the issue of inflation. There has been no wage growth over the past few years. Workers and wages have not caused the inflation issue. We have record profits in this country. We have a demand and supply issue. I call on corporate Australia to do its fair share of the heavy lifting, look at the profits it's taking home for shareholders, and bring some of those prices down, which are far in excess of their costs. (Time expired)

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.