Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the Government's commitment to Australians earning more and keeping more of what they earn;

(2) notes that on 1 July 2025:

(a) millions of Australian workers on minimum and award wages got a 3.5 per cent pay rise; and

(b) the superannuation guarantee increased to 12 per cent; and

(3) welcomes the Government delivering the better future Australians voted for.

I rise to speak on two of the most fundamental issues for Australian workers: superannuation and wages. Every Australian deserves dignity in retirement and fairness in their back pocket today. The Albanese Labor government has worked steadily and deliberately to restore fairness to our workplace laws and to repair long-neglected systems that support hardworking Australians.

We've delivered on our commitment to increase the superannuation guarantee. From 1 July this year, the guarantee rose to 12 per cent, a move that strengthens the retirement of millions of workers across the country. That figure of 12 per cent might seem like a number on paper, but, for a 30-year-old working today, it can mean tens of thousands of dollars more in their back pocket in retirement. It is a difference between anxiety and security in older age. And it is a Labor government that has ensured that commitment, first promised over a decade ago, has finally been delivered in full.

We've also taken historic action to address one of the biggest drivers of the gender retirement gap by legislating for superannuation to be paid on Commonwealth paid parental leave. From July 2026, parents who take time off to raise their children will not be penalised in their retirement. For the first time in our history, super will be paid on paid parental leave, because we understand that time spent caring is not time spent working less; it's time spent working differently. It's a change that will benefit over 180,000 Australian families every year. This is equity in action. This is what good governments can do when we put working families at the centre of our policymaking.

In addition to this, we are rolling out payday super, requiring employers to pay super at the same time as salary and wages. This reform, coming into effect from 1 July 2026, will help eliminate the pain of unpaid super, which is currently costing workers an estimated $3.4 billion each year. Workers shouldn't have to chase what is rightfully theirs. This change will give employees greater flexibility over their entitlements and improve compliance for all PCBUs. We're backing it with stronger powers for the Australian Taxation Office, more frequent reporting and new technology to detect nonpayment in real time.

We've also introduced enforceable service standards for super funds, ensuring they deliver not just reasonable terms but also fair treatment, clear communication and transparency for their members. Superannuation is not just about accumulation of returns; it's about giving every Australian the peace of mind that their hard work today will be rewarded tomorrow. Just as we fight for fairness in retirement, we must also deliver fairness now.

Turning to wages, I'm proud to say that, under the Albanese Labor government, real wages are growing again. In fact, for nearly three million workers, they have already gone up since 1 July. After a decade of wage stagnation under those on the other side of the chamber, Australian workers are finally getting a fair go on payday. Since May 2022 we have supported successive increases to the minimum wage and the preservation of award wages, delivering meaningful pay rises. In fact, over two years the Fair Work Commission has delivered minimum wage increases of more than eight per cent, in line with inflation and in recognition of the pressures that everyone is facing right now.

Our workplace reforms—including multi-employer bargaining, limits on exploitative labour hire practices and better rights for casual workers—have all been designed with one goal: to get wages moving. One of the clearest examples is in aged care. We have fought hard and delivered a 15 per cent wage increase for aged-care workers, because valuing care means valuing carers. The same goes for early childhood educators, retail workers, cleaners—so many Aussies whose essential work was applauded and needed to keep our country running during the pandemic but undervalued for too long.

The Albanese government believes in an economy that works for people, not the other way around. The Labor Party believes that when working people do well the country does well. I'd be lying if I said our job was done; we have more to do but we are on the right path. We will continue to close the retirement gender gap, we will continue to crack down on unpaid entitlements and we will continue to ensure that working people share in the benefits of national growth. When Labor say we are on the side of working Australians, we mean it. I commend our government's work so far and I look forward to continuing the work ahead.

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

Is the motion seconded?

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a great privilege to speak on this motion because there is nothing more important to average Australians right now than their capacity to get ahead. There has never been a time in our nation's history where so many families have worked harder and tried to get ahead but are feeling like they are going backwards.

While we hear the heroic and stoic rhetoric of the members of this government saying how Australians are doing better under this government, I say with genuine sadness that it simply doesn't stack up to the economic reality. Over the past three years, real household disposable income per capita has collapsed by 6.3 per cent. If you're going to see real wages improve, people have to be living it; you can't just say it with words. We know that Australians are not living it because they are seeing real declines in their wages and in their household disposable income. There's a simple reason for that: not only are their wages not moving; in addition to that, they are seeing all their costs for their household increase.

It is, of course, explicit with their energy bills. Everybody knows the reality when they pick up their electricity bill or their gas bill and have to deal with bill shock. But there has been nothing more explicit in the realities of what Australian households have dealt with than persistent and globally high interest rates. While the rest of the world has seen a decline in their interest rates, which has meant that inflation has come under control, Australia has consistently had persistent high interest rates in comparison to OECD countries. That comes directly off the bottom line of household savings, so, as people work harder, they're falling farther and further behind.

We see it at the supermarket every time we go and pay for simple groceries. I've never seen a time in the past—you might have seen it on momentary occasions. I remember going to the supermarket in the past after cyclones and picking up a bundle of bananas, and there would be a shock of $25 and have to put them back. You might remember some of those times yourself, Deputy Speaker Wilkie. But I've never seen a time in this nation's history where people have gone to buy food or groceries, ended up looking at a trolley and saying, 'I'm not sure I can afford that,' and had to put items back on the shelves, as Australians are doing right now.

What Australians need now more than anything is a sense of hope. They need a sense of hope not just that their wages are going to increase but also that they're going to see a reduction in the costs that they are living with so that they can stabilise their household finances and also so that they can get ahead. That sense of hope that young Australians and families need right now is so important not just for what we are living with today but, more importantly, for the sense of aspiration and hope that Australians will have for the future. When Australians lose a sense of hope, they seek to live only for the moment and for today, and then they lose that sense of character, of putting our investment and our energy towards a better tomorrow. When we lose that spirit, that's when we see people no longer doing things like saving to buy their first home or seeking to invest towards going on and doing things like forming a family.

Now is a critical moment. It is where people see that the chance, aspiration or dream for a better future for themselves is on the line. They are not living that. Of course, unfortunately, the Albanese government is not making that any easier in any of the policies that they are seeking to put forward. In fact, what they are doing is jeopardising the future. You just need to look at the family savings tax that nobody voted for at this election and they are now throwing on the table. With so many small-business people—people who backed themselves in, who have sacrificed and saved to get themselves ahead—they are putting a family savings tax on unrealised capital gains that particularly hits small business and the assets where people have put them into superannuation. They are now going to attack the very basis on which people have sacrificed to be able to secure their long-term retirement.

When you see those sorts of policies under an egregious attempt at revenue raising by the Labor Party, people know that, once it's applied to super, it will be ported over to other asset structures and other investments. People no longer have confidence that they will be able to invest in the future of this country and for themselves with confidence. That's what's at stake and that's what's on the line. I understand that the government is involved in its little victory lap and crowing about their electoral success, but the reality of what Australians are living out there is very different, and it's time they woke up.

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This motion goes to the heart of what Labor governments do: make sure Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn. Whether it's tax relief, fair pay increases or strengthening superannuation, this Labor government is delivering for all Australians and delivering for all the people of Hasluck. We know that there are some Australians doing it tough, and it's our job—it's my job—to make life that bit easier and the future that bit more secure. From 1 July, every taxpayer got a tax cut. That's real relief in real time. That's nurses in Midland better off. That's Guildford better off. That's teachers in Bassendean better off. In fact, all workers in Hasluck and across Australia are better off because of this government's decision to deliver tax cuts for everyone.

This is not just about numbers on a tax table; it's about putting money right back into the pockets of the very people who have worked hard and do the right thing. They're people who get up early, raise families, run small businesses and contribute so much to our communities. From 1 July, more than 2.6 million workers on minimum award wages received a 3½ per cent increase. That means a real difference for hospitality workers in the Swan Valley, cleaners in Noranda and aged-care staff in Morley. It's a government backing wage growth—not hoping for it or, as in the case of the coalition, actively planning against it. This is the sixth consecutive increase under Labor, and it reflects our belief that no-one who works full time in Australia should be struggling to make ends meet.

On the very same day this year, 1 July, the compulsory superannuation guarantee rose to 12 per cent. Because of this, every Australian worker will retire with tens of thousands of dollars more. The engineers in Ashfield are better off. Pharmacy staff in Ellenbrook are better off. Shop assistants in Bennett Springs are better off. Every worker in Hasluck and across Australia will benefit from this increase. Universal superannuation is a Labor legacy and Australian institution, and it is recognised around the world as part of a gold standard retirement system. It was brought into being by the Hawke and Keating governments and has been defended by every Labor government since.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for those opposite. Let's not forget that, when super was introduced in 1991, the Liberals and Nationals opposed it. They voted against better retirement incomes for ordinary Australians. Ever since, they've chipped away at it, white-anting it, delaying it, delaying increases and undermining its universality. I often wonder: if the same legislation were introduced today, would the current ragtag coalition even support it? I really do doubt it. Let's be honest. Every delay, freeze and cynical attack on the system has had a cost—a cost not measured in headlines but in the retirement balances of millions of Australians. How many Liberal and National voters realise just how much their side of politics has cost them in retirement? It's hundreds of thousands of dollars—maybe more.

The Labor government is taking a different path. We're strengthening super, defining its purpose, defending it from misuse and ensuring it is sustainable for generations to come, because every Australian deserves dignity in retirement. They deserve a system they can rely on, and they deserve a government that puts their futures first. The Association of Super Funds of Australia CEO, Mary Delahunty, said that this is a major milestone in Australia's retirement system. For the first time, they project that a 30-year-old on a median wage will be on track to achieve a comfortable retirement, thanks to July's superannuation guarantee increase to 12 per cent. Yet the Liberal opposition oppose these reforms not for the sake of minimum-wage earners or retirees but to protect the interests of the wealthiest 0.5 per cent. Sussan Ley described Labor's proposed tax on super balances over $3 million as a class warfare tactic, in an effort to shield the ultrarich rather than support ordinary retirees. We're delivering instead a better future. We voted for tax relief that puts money back into people's pockets, wages growth that restores dignity and stability and a superannuation system that safeguards retirement. We have a mandate to lift standards, secure futures and build a fairer nation. I commend the motion.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Spence for this excellent motion. I want to acknowledge his strong commitment to working people not just in this place but in his previous career as a Transport Workers' Union official.

When we came to power in May 2022, we set about lifting people's wages. Since we came to office, the minimum wage has already increased by $143 a week, and the median wage has increased by $206 per week. We set about helping three million workers across the country. That's cleaners, retail workers and early-childhood educators. After the election, we advocated to the Fair Work Commission that we would do it. We did this during the election, but we continue to support decisions made. We made a submission just after the election to the Fair Work Commission recommending that the Fair Work Commission award an economically sustainable real wage increase to Australian award workers. We said we were going to do this, and we did it after the election.

Our plan that we took to the election was all about ensuring Australians earn more. We want to make sure they can earn more and, through our tax cuts, keep more. Our economic strategy was about getting wages moving. Don't forget, Mathias Cormann, the then finance minister in the previous government, belled the cat when he said that a deliberate design feature of their economic policy and industrial relations policy was to keep wages low. Our strategy was to get wages moving again, get on top of inflation, maintain the gains in the labour market and build a more productive economy. That was our commitment.

From 1 July this year about three million Australian workers, minimum wage and award wage workers across the country, received a 3.5 per cent pay increase. That's many workers in my electorate. This followed our submission to the Fair Work Commission. It is good for workers, is good for the economy and will help with cost-of-living relief. It recognises the substantial progress Australians have made together in the economy. But we know people are still under pressure and ongoing cost-of-living relief is critical.

On top of this, the new data shows that a record high number of employees are now covered by federal enterprise bargaining agreements, or EBAs, which produce real wage increases for Australian workers—not those stupid AWAs that John Howard brought in with the Work Choices stuff, which caused so much of a problem and the suppression of wages under the previous coalition government. Workers covered by EBAs have seen their wages increase by 3.8 per cent, outpacing inflation and economy-wide wage increases. Boosting wages, cutting taxes for taxpayers and creating jobs are a central part of our effort to help Australians with the cost of living. That's absolutely vital. We're combining increasing wages with our tax cuts, cheaper medicines, cuts to student debt and energy bill relief. We're making a difference in easing the cost of living.

On 1 July this year we celebrated another milestone, which the member for Spence talked about: the superannuation guarantee finally getting to 12 per cent, up from 11.5 per cent. Labor is the party of superannuation. It took Labor governments to get there: prime ministers Hawke and Keating introduced the superannuation scheme; Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan, her Treasurer, legislated the guarantee, and now our government is delivering it. This increase in the superannuation guarantee under our government means a worker early in their career who is earning about $72,000 a year will have an extra $91,000 in retirement, and a worker at 30 years of age earning the average full-time income—about $103,000—will have an extra $98,000 in retirement. This is very significant. Imagine a young person looking at that. That's what we are doing.

This could have happened six years ago, but, as I said in the local government debate a few minutes ago, those opposite blocked the increases. In my time in politics I can't think of a time when the Liberal and National parties have actually supported an increase in the superannuation guarantee—not one. We are delivering more money in retirement, giving people dignity in retirement and more security for their future, and those opposite can't have the grace and humility to accept it.

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.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:04