Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Since the government's deal with the Senate crossbench to pass its extreme industrial relations legislation, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Minerals Council of Australia, the Master Builders Association and the Business Council of Australia have all explicitly reiterated their rejection of the bill, warning jobs and businesses across the country are at risk. Why does this Labor government always get the big economic calls wrong?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I did think he was reading out a list of all the supporters of our climate change policy when he went through that list of the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Business Council of Australia. He left out the National Farmers Federation, who also support our climate policy. I addressed the Australian Industry Group last Monday night for dinner. They were all there. I got seven questions. I got questions about the relationship with trade. I got questions about the Voice, which, by the way, the Australian Industry Group support. I got questions about the republic. Do you want to know how many questions I got about wages? One. This Wednesday night over in the Great Hall I'll be the guest speaker of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, so if you're not doing anything Wednesday night, Pete, come past and you'll hear about our engagement with the business community.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Barker will cease interjecting.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the things we know when it comes to economics and the big calls is that low wages have been holding back our economy. How do we know that? This is what people have spoken about. The RBA Governor—a fellow who might know something about the economy—said, 'The crisis is really in real wage growth.' When speaking about whether there would be higher wages in the future, he said, 'If that were to happen it would be a good thing.' He said that in 2017.

Just to make sure it wasn't a one-off comment. In 2018 he said, in an address to the Australian Industry Group, 'These concerns are being brought into sharp focus by unusually slow growth in wages.' Then he went on to say, 'Wages growth has not responded in the way that it once did.' He went on to say, 'It is clear that the slow growth in wages is affecting our economy.' In November 2018, in an address to CEDA, he said:

… flat real wages are diminishing our sense of shared prosperity. The lack of real wage growth is one of the reasons why some in our community question whether they are benefiting from our economic success.

We believe in an economy that works for people, not the other way around. It's a fundamental distinction that we have. We stand by our position and, indeed, the Leader of the National Party said just a couple weeks ago when asked if he would concede that wages didn't rise while he was in government: 'Well, real wages didn't, and that's structurally a challenge we're all facing. It takes structural change.' We're going to deliver that change. (Time expired)