Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the final report of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Review;

(2) notes the report found the Government's workplace changes are already delivering for Australian workers, and that:

(a) coverage of collective bargaining 'has increased markedly';

(b) real wages and workers' economic circumstances are improving; and

(c) the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act represents a significant development aimed at improving outcomes for working women, including a reduction in the gender pay gap;

(3) further notes recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that showed:

(a) a record number of Australians work;

(b) since May 2022, employment had risen by 8.6 per cent, a higher rate of employment growth than all major advanced economies;

(c) the gender pay gap is at the lowest ever level since records began; and

(d) annual real wages have now grown for seven consecutive quarters under this Government; and

(4) further acknowledges the Government's commitment for Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn.

The Albanese Labor government has worked hard over the last three years to turn around years of neglect and the degradation of workers' rights under the former Liberal government. At the core of Labor governments sits the ideal that workers' rights must be protected, that Australians should have secure jobs and that all workers should be paid fairly for the work that they do. This isn't just an ideal; this is something we have worked hard to enshrine in the law.

In December 2022, our parliament passed the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill. We did this because, fundamentally, Australian workers had spent too long dealing with insecure work, with their wages held back. It was bad for local workers in my community like childcare workers, aged-care workers, those on the minimum wage—the list goes on. They had had it too tough for too long. Our legislation aimed to improve job security and gender equality, improve workplace conditions and protections and boost bargaining to restore fairness and integrity to the fair work institutions, and it's working.

The final report of the independent panel conducting the statutory review of the secure jobs, better pay act has found that these changes are delivering for workers. As this motion notes, the review found coverage of collective bargaining has increased markedly. Real wages and workers' economic circumstances are improving. The secure jobs, better pay act represents a significant development aimed at improving outcomes for working women, including a reduction in the gender pay gap. This is real and tangible change in the lives of average working Australians. Since our legislation passed in December 2022, employment has risen by more than 879,000 jobs, reaching a record high in July 2025. As at June 2024, the number of small businesses had also grown by 2.7 per cent since the same time in 2023. When you support workers you also support business, and that's the truth.

We promised we would get wages moving and we have delivered on that promise. We have delivered pay rises for those on the minimum wage. We've delivered pay rises for those working in aged care and in child care. In June 2025, we saw the seventh consecutive increase in annual wages growth, with the wage price index rising by 3.4 per cent on the previous year. Hardworking Australians doing the work that is keeping our economy moving deserve to be paid fairly.

We also know that this country has had a real problem with the gender pay gap for far too long. Labor promised to turn that around. We promised we would take action to bring this down, and now the gender pay gap is at its equal lowest on record. That is what happens when you put these issues at the heart of what you do, when you decide that supporting workers must come first and that supporting women to be paid fairly must come first. It changes lives, and that is what we have done.

One of the other things we aimed to do, which I know was important in my electorate, was close the labour hire loophole. The Illawarra has a proud mining history. Our community was built on the back of our local coalminers, and theirs was just one of the industries being exploited by labour hire loopholes that we have now closed. These were loopholes that saw people doing the same job but for less pay. It saw local workers missing out on hours, missing out on doing their job, because corporations thought they could get someone else to do it cheaper. Since our legislation came into effect, we have seen more than 5,000 labour hire workers receive pay increases, and that's a direct result of the changes that the Albanese Labor government made. A fair day's pay for a fair day's work—that's what Australians deserve and that's what they are getting out of an Albanese Labor government.

The Illawarra also has a world-class university which brings a high volume of students and those wanting to work casual and flexible hours. When I spoke on the closing-loopholes legislation, I told the story of Ashleigh, a local student struggling to pay bills who had created a yellow pages of exploitation. It was a very sad state of affairs—a laundry list of underpayment, power imbalance and businesses trying to scam the system. Students took matters into their own hands to name and shame those behaving badly. Our review has shown that enterprise agreements are at an all-time high and Australians are earning more and keeping more of what they earn. I am proud to be part of a government delivering for workers and supporting local businesses at the same time.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Jodie Belyea (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I always love the titles Labor give their motions and their bills. 'Secure jobs, better pay review'—I mean, seriously! They might as well call some of them 'More rainbows and fairy floss'. It's just nonsense. Out there, where people are doing it really tough, where workers are struggling to pay their bills, where families can't balance their budgets, they've got a cost-of-living crisis and they've got real wages falling. That's what we should be talking about—real wages, what you actually take home and what you actually get to keep of the money you earn.

The member for Cunningham—and I do like her; she's a good egg—talked about the increased number of jobs and workers. Let me tell you that, in regional Australia, they're not working too much at the moment on infrastructure projects, because they have all stalled or stopped. And I know that, when I was the Deputy Prime Minister and responsible for that portfolio, we had more than 100,000 people relying on the $110 billion of infrastructure that we were rolling out, a third of which or more went to country areas. But, under this government, it has all ceased. And, when you've got food up 15 per cent, health up by the same amount, education up 17 per cent, insurance and financial costs up by 20 per cent, electricity before rebates up 39 per cent and gas up by the same amount, you can see why it's eating into the wages of everyday, ordinary Australians.

But there is hope on the horizon, because the Daily Telegraph reports today that there are people who have got an increase in their wages. Oh, yes. Who might they be? The Daily Telegraph said:

The pay of union top dogs has soared compared with workers in the industries they represent over the past six years, headlined by—

wait for it—

the embattled CFMEU.

Of course, the good old CFMEU. That's the introductory sentence of the Daily Telegraph's report. It continues:

Analysis of wage growth between union leaders and their workforces show how the two have decoupled between 2019 and 2024, with the pay for the CFMEU national secretary growing by—

wait for this—

47.49 per cent in that time.

Good if you can get it! It continues:

Union documents show former national secretary Chris Cain earned $367,255 in 2024 …

I'll tell you what—that's more than the average backbencher by a long way, and don't even start about the average worker out there, the average minimum wage earner.

These unions—and that's who the government is beholden to—are out of control. They are dominating worksites, and that's why we've got a freefall in the construction sector. They are dominating the transport industry, and that's why we've got trucking companies going to the wall every single week, and workers are doing it tough. And then you've got Michael O'Connor, who is Chris Cain's predecessor. He was on $248,999, so you can see how much Mr Cain earns more than his predecessor. According to the Daily Telegraph:

Real wage growth for the union boss role—which strips out inflation—shows their pay still increased by 26.95 per cent in that time.

Meanwhile, analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics' median statistics show the nominal wage increase for workers in construction rose by 16.28 per cent between 2019 and 2024.

At the same time manufacturing pay rose 24.22 per cent …

It just goes on and on, but the devil is in the detail. The fact is that unions are stripping their sectors blind.

And, speaking of blind, Labor are just turning a blind eye to it, because they kowtow to the unions. It's their union masters. Everything revolves around what the union bosses tell them to do. He who pays the piper calls the tune. And the piper is, indeed, the union bosses. Yet, out there in voter land, we've got people struggling, particularly in regional Australia. And the policies by this government are not helping those people who provide the food, who provide the fibre, who go into mines every day and get dirt under their fingernails to get the resources to pay, to keep the balance of payments going, to keep the lights on. That is the great shame.

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

I want to talk about what the member for Riverina has just said because I am a Queenslander, and I'll tell you what we know about Queensland when it comes to working people. When it comes to working people, we know that the LNP has repeatedly tried to strip working people of their conditions. We know that the LNP has tried to systematically make sure that working people's access to critical services has been cut. We know that, when it comes to manufacturing, the LNP has a track record of taking manufacturing jobs offshore and making communities hurt because of it. That is the track record that we know when it comes to working people.

Today, I want to open by saying that the Albanese Labor government wants Australians to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. That is something that you hear in this chamber a lot. The reason it is a talking point is that it is something that is critical to making sure that our community is supported. I repeat it because of that. It's what drives this government. When we speak to core Labor values of economic justice, a just wage and a fair wage, that is what Labor stands for every day.

I want to take you back to the 2022 election campaign. During the 2022 election campaign, then opposition leader Anthony Albanese was asked a question. He was asked whether or not he would support an increase to the minimum wage, and he said, 'Absolutely.' What was so interesting about that question was that those opposite thought that that was a 'gotcha'. Those opposite thought, 'This must be a mistake.' Those opposite thought that the idea of increasing wages for some of the lowest paid people in our society and in our community could not possibly have been done by design and that it must have been an error, because it was so fanciful to them—the idea that someone would stand up for working people and stand up for the minimum wage to be increased. This is where the stark difference between us and those opposite comes into play. When it comes to a living wage, when it comes to driving fair wages and when it comes to helping and supporting some of the most vulnerable in our community, while they think that it is a mistake, we believe that working people should be supported in their jobs to have fair wages and dignity in work every single day.

In December 2022, the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill received royal assent. The act put into place critical amendments that focused on workplace relations laws relating to bargaining, job security, gender equality, compliance, enforcement and workplace conditions, protections and relations institutions. One of the stipulations of the legislation was an independent statutory review of the changes. In mid-August, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations tabled that final report, the Secure jobs, better pay review. The final report said:

… the early signs are that collective bargaining is increasing, especially the coverage of collective agreements, and real wages (and other indicators of workers' economic circumstances) have started to improve.

Real wages are improving, and this is good news for hardworking Australians. It's been backed up by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which has released data that indicates that annual real wages have now grown for seven consecutive quarters under the Albanese Labor government. Real wages grew 1.3 per cent through the year to the June quarter 2025—the strongest annual real wages growth since June 2020.

The coalition said it couldn't be done. They said you couldn't increase wages without impacting other bits of the economy. And what have we seen, Deputy Speaker Scrymgour? We have seen inflation go from having a six in front of it, under the coalition, to having a two in front of it. What have we seen? We have seen unemployment stay low. On top of all that, we have seen support given in critical services, in important parts of the economy. Whether it's 20 per cent off student debt or it's 20 per cent cheaper for medicines, we have seen Australian workers support it. What is clear is that this government knows that real wages are not an impediment to a better future for Australians.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was a very interesting motion from the member opposite. As the member for Riverina said, it has that important big title that sounds impressive: Secure jobs, better pay review. It's clear the government were required to do this review, but what those opposite don't want to talk about is how the reviewers were selected. This is a really important thing to understand, because when you're forced to do a review and you're not confident about the outcome what do you want to do? You want to make sure that you have control of those that are doing it.

Normally, what would happen is the department would put suggestions for the reviewers forward. That is the traditional process. However, under FOI we know that Minister Watt himself took control of who would do the review. Why would he do that? Why would he be so desperate to ignore departmental advice unless he was worried about the outcome? Let's be clear. This wasn't once. This wasn't a corridor conversation. This was in writing.

What did the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations write to Minister Watt? They said:

We recommend you do not personally act as the decision-maker for the procurement process, despite you having the power to do so.

They also said:

There may be probity and reputational concerns if you as the Minister are directly involved in the procurement process, as this may adversely impact on the impartiality and integrity of the review.

The greater the involvement from you and your office in the procurement office, the greater the probity risk and increased risk of deviation from government policy that Ministers are not to be involved in the procurement process.

The department has reviewed the publicly available material, and it is likely that some stakeholders would agree with Professor Bray's commentary or may raise concerns about the impartiality of his consideration of the issues for review.

Classic Labor. They know the outcome. They ignore the department and put their own person in. Twelve months later, they're standing here talking about how great the review is and how lucky the Australian people are, that they've never had it better, never had it so good. How out of touch can you be?

It gets worse. The minister is asked in estimates about all this written advice. He said:

… we'll go and check the records as to exactly how the employment process came to be. But my recollection is that the two reviewers were recommended in some form, whether it be written or verbal or whatever it was, by the department. But we'll go and check that.

That's three written pieces of advice saying exactly the opposite.

What is this government so keen to hide? It is the fact that their policies are not working. It is the fact that they're making it harder for Australians to earn a suitable wage to pay their bills. There is no Australian doing it better today than when this government came to power in 2022.

You can tell the review was twisted. Those opposite talk about these great outcomes, but within the review there was a really interesting observation made, about three or four times, by the handpicked reviewer of the minister:

The review was constrained by significant data limitations caused by the short period of time between the commencement of the reforms and the review.

The fix was in.

The minister knows that the outcome of this legislation wouldn't be great. So what has he done? He's handpicked his own reviewer, ignoring departmental advice: 'Put the shortest amount of time in, before the data starts to show the real implications and unintended consequences of the legislation.' Those opposite pat themselves on the back and say what a great job they've done.

Again, the problem with so much of this government's legislation and so much of their spin is that spinning these outcomes 12 months later doesn't actually make a difference for the Australian people. Consistently, this prime minister will spin outcomes and put impressive-sounding names on bills that actually don't deliver anything, but, again and again, it's the Australian people that pay the price, because the reality is that this prime minister doesn't actually have any solutions that are making it easier for the Australian people. He's making it harder for Australians to get ahead. They have to hide the outcomes from the Australian people, but everyone at home knows it, because their costs are going up and their wages aren't keeping up at the same time.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) 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 a later hour.