Tom French (Moore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to support this motion because it speaks directly to what the people of Moore tell me every day: they want secure jobs, better pay and a fair go at work. Before I came into this place I was an industrial lawyer, representing workers who too often had the odds stacked against them. Before that I was an electrician, working on the tools on job sites, experiencing firsthand the difference between a fair employer and the ones who tried to cut corners. So, when I talk about wages, job security and fairness at work, this is not theory to me; it's lived experience. That's why I know how important it is that the Albanese government has put working people back at the centre of our industrial relations system, because the secure jobs, better pay reforms are delivering on exactly what we promised.

The independent interim review confirmed that they are, on the whole, achieving the government's intent. Collective agreement coverage has grown 27 per cent since September 2022. That means more workers are now covered by agreements that deliver high wages and better conditions—the highest coverage since enterprise bargaining began in 1991. That's not just a statistic; it's proof that workers and businesses are once again finding common ground. When workers have bargaining power, wages go up, conditions improve and families benefit. Since these reforms, real wages have grown every quarter. After a decade of wages being deliberately kept low under the coalition, we have finally turned the tide. The ABS confirms this: seven consecutive quarters of real wages growth, the strongest in five years and the longest sustained run in more than a decade. For women in particular, the progress is clear. Early trends in the gender pay gap show positive outcomes, with that gap now at an equal historic low of 11.5 per cent. That means more women, in Moore and across the country, are finally getting closer to the pay they deserve.

Those opposite don't want to hear this; they are desperate to discredit these reforms because they want to axe them. Senator Cash went so far as to call them the most radical laws she has ever seen. But what's radical about Australians getting their fair share of the wealth they create? What's so radical about more workers being on agreements than at any time since the early nineties? What's so radical about wages outpacing inflation and the gender gap narrowing? The truth is there is nothing radical about fairness. It is the coalition who were radical when they sat back and watched a decade of low wages growth while cost-of-living pressures mounted for working families.

I know that families in Beldon, Craigie and Karrinyup are still feeling those pressures at the checkout, at the petrol bowser and with their mortgage repayments. People in my electorate are doing it tough. That is why it matters so much that wages are moving again. Since coming to government, Labor has fought to increase the minimum wage, delivering four consecutive raises for 2.9 million workers. In just three years, the national minimum wage has gone up by $4.62 per hour. That's more than $175 a week—over $9,000 a year—or a 22.7 per cent increase, making a real difference to families who are struggling to keep up.

We have made sure that the benefits are not just for some but for all. In aged care and early childhood education, we have delivered funded pay rises for workers who were underpaid for far too long. These are life-changing increases for essential workers who hold our communities together. We have also closed loopholes that allow labour-hire workers to be paid less than permanent employees doing the same job. That is something I experienced myself while on the tools, and I understand how unfair it was. We have criminalised wage theft because taking money out of a worker's pocket is not a dispute; it is theft. And we've introduce the right to disconnect so workers can properly clock off and spend time with their families without the boss calling them at all hours.

These reforms are built on a simple principle: Australians should earn more and keep more of what they earn. That is the goal we are delivering on, and we are doing it while growing the economy. Since Labor came to office, we have created more than 1.1 million new jobs. Unemployment remains low, workforce participation remains high and wages are moving in the right direction. This is what Labor government delivers: secure jobs, better pay and fairer workplaces. I am proud to be part of a government that is putting working people first. I commend the motion to the House.

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

Deputy Speaker Wilkie, you would be familiar with this analogy: in 2003, on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, George Bush stepped out in front of a banner that said 'mission accomplished'. That is what it felt like listening to the member for Moore giving his erudite speech right then. I'm afraid the right to disconnect wasn't the right of the government to disconnect from economic reality, but that is what we just heard. We heard boastfully about the direction of wages under this government, but, unfortunately, there is a brutal reality. If you actually adjust for inflation, real wages in Australia haven't gone up for the past 15 years, including under this government. In fact, we have consistently trailed the OECD average. That is not something to be proud of, and it shows how much work needs to be done to boost wages in this country, because around this nation right now so many Australians feel like, no matter how hard they work, they aren't getting ahead. No matter what this government does and no matter how much they crow about their achievements, we aren't seeing that materialise or improve in people lived conditions.

You just need to look at what's happening with small business. We have record small business insolvencies, which is a tragedy not just because of the impact it has on the owners but also because small business is the gateway for so many young Australians to get their first job. It's the pathway where they get their first foot on the ladder of economic opportunity and, of course, the pathway they go on to get their next job as part of their pathway to success in life. It's because this government is focused more on what they need to do to feed the outcomes for union bosses rather than improving workers' wages. We saw this very explicitly in an article in the Daily Telegraph today that did an analysis looking at what has been happening with union bosses' wages over the last five years. It shows that CFMEU officials' wages have gone up by 26 per cent. Meanwhile, construction workers' wages in the same time have gone down by around five per cent. That is not something to boast about, Member for Moore. It suggests that this government's policy is trickle-up economics towards union officials at the expense of workers' wages. It suggests to me very clearly that we have a problem where the government's focus is not on what it needs to do to boost the interests of Australian workers but rather, of course, on their political patrons.

We're seeing this in other areas of the legislative agenda of this government. Just look at what they've done with penalty rates. We literally had an industry association apply to increase the base rate of wages in the retail sector by 35 per cent, but Labor wasn't going to have that, because, if they had that, what would it have done? It would have cut out the union interest in the decision-making power of wages and penalty rates. So what did they do? They outlawed a pathway to increase wages for retail workers, because it would have undermined the power of the unions and increased the power of wages for workers. These are the disgraceful priorities of this government. They are focused more on what they need to do to boost union bosses' pay at the expense of workers.

We're seeing this now. Another report, just today in the Australian Financial Review, said:

Labor's multi-employer bargaining regime has received a dual setback, with the collapse of the mining industry's first negotiations—

This was the big crow out of their first jobs-and-skills summit. Remember that? We had a tax hike talkfest recently. They had the Jobs and Skills Summit at the end of 2022, and their first big outcome from that was the multi-employer bargaining regime. According to the Australian Financial Review:

The Australian Financial Review can reveal that almost all the air-conditioning manufacturers that signed up to the first multi-employer agreement are now seeking to exit the deal in the face of opposition from a rival union.

…   …   …

After bargaining for 12 months for one agreement for critical site supervisors in NSW, the Collieries' Staff and Officials Association last week opted instead to pursue single agreements …

…   …   …

During the five bargaining meetings held since last year neither side could reach consensus on any potential terms.

The other part is that the mining sector has said that multi-employer agreements are 'unworkable'.

The collective noun for clowns is a chuckle. I think we need to officially adopt, as part of this parliamentary procedure, chuckle as the collective noun for multi-employer bargaining agreements, because it is turning into a joke. Under this government, the focus of industrial relations laws is on how to boost the interests of union bosses at the expense of workers. There is nothing to chuckle about.

Gabriel Ng (Menzies, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to acknowledge the secure jobs, better pay review, which demonstrates the success of the ambitious reforms the Albanese Labor government implemented in our first term. The report shows that the workplace changes that we legislated are delivering for Australians. In December 2022, we introduced the secure jobs, better pay act to ensure workplace rules are fair and that the benefits of a growing economy are shared with every Australian. These reforms were designed to lift wages, strengthen job security, improve enterprise bargaining and address the gender pay gap. The final independent review of the act has confirmed that these reforms are already delivering real outcomes.

Collective bargaining has increased significantly, with the number of employees covered by agreements rising from about 1.72 million in September 2022 to around 2.6 million by March 2025. This is an increase of approximately 880,000 workers. This includes workers across multiple employers, who, thanks to this government, are now covered by enterprise bargaining. Unions and employees can bargain for improved wages and conditions, particularly for those in traditionally feminised industries, like aged care and child care. Importantly, the act has made a substantial contribution to improving outcomes for women, with the gender pay gap now at its lowest level since records began.

Through our closing loopholes laws, which ensure labour hire workers are not paid less than permanent employees for the same work, we have improved wages for people on insecure contracts and also disincentivised dodgy employers from outsourcing to labour hire companies to save themselves money on wages and conditions. We have criminalised intentional wage theft. An employee who puts their hand in the till can be charged with a criminal offence. In the same way, a boss who knowingly takes money out of their worker's pay packet should be criminalised. We have introduced the right to disconnect so workers can properly clock off and enjoy a decent work-life balance.

Despite this evidence in the latest review, the coalition are still desperately trying to discredit our legislation because they want to axe the very laws that have seen workers get pay rises. We all remember Senator Michaelia Cash declaring that these laws were the most radical she had ever seen. If it's radical to have the highest number of employees on workplace agreements since enterprise bargaining began in 1991, if it's radical to have the strongest rate of annual wage growth in five years, if it's radical to have the gender pay gap hitting a historic low of 11.5 per cent in the latest ABS statistics and if it's radical to have the unemployment rate remaining low while workplace participation stays high then we will proudly accept the badge of being radical. This is what happens when governments deliver for workers.

Other independent data shows the success of our workplace reforms and wider agenda in guiding Australia through difficult times while increasing wages and keeping unemployment low. The latest data from the ABS shows that real wages have risen for seven consecutive quarters. This is the strongest annual wage growth in real terms in five years and the longest period of consistent growth above 0.7 per cent in a decade. Average annual wages are growing at 3.7 per cent, compared with just 2.2 per cent under our predecessors. We have also delivered four consecutive increases to the minimum wage, benefiting 2.2 million of Australia's lowest paid workers. In just three years, the national minimum wage has increased by $4.62 per hour. That's $175 a week or more than $9,000 a year. That's real money in the pockets of some of our lowest paid workers. The same ABS release shows that employment has continued to grow at record pace. Since May 2022, we have seen more than 1.1 million new jobs created. That represents an increase of 8.6 per cent in total employment, a faster rate of job growth than any other major advanced economy. These numbers confirm what Australians are seeing in their communities: more people in work and more families benefiting from secure income thanks to the reforms of the Albanese Labor government. (Time expired)

Matt Gregg (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There was a lengthy period of time in Australian history where low wages were a deliberate design feature of our economy. The election of the Albanese Labor government put a fortunate end to that silly spiral that we found ourselves in in the Australian economy. Secure jobs, better pay means that workers get their fair share of the prosperity that their work creates. It means that a person who does their fair day of work gets to go home and live their life with their family in peace, without being concerned by constant harassment through phone calls from their employer without justified purpose. It is a regime that gets the balance right between the interests of workers and employees.

We've had very little disputation about many of the new features of secure jobs, better pay. The right to disconnect, for example, has not led to industrial disharmony. People understand the common sense that underrides the rule, 'Contact them if needed but don't go overboard with contacting your workers when they're trying to enjoy their own time with their families.'

The objective of increasing the wages of working people is a noble one. Also, when we think about it, if you create an economy that incentivises a race to the bottom on wages, we see the very kinds of issues we've seen in aged care and child care: if you make it all too easy for firms to compete on a low cost base by undercutting the wages of working people, that's exactly what they'll do. So we had a system that, by design, incentivised a competitive approach which meant the way you got your advantage over the other firm was by paying your workers less, by exploiting contractual arrangements with labour hire companies and the like in an attempt to drive down wages. While that was legal and a legitimate business practice, that is clearly not a sustainable pathway to productivity in our economy. The way we achieve that is by incentivising firms to get competitive advantage by innovation—by more efficient procedures and by ensuring that we do the jobs better rather than just finding new and clever ways of undercutting workers' wages.

The new approach to industrial relations unashamedly means that workers do better, that the work done by employees is duly rewarded and that we put an end to the cycle of continual locking of the prosperity of working people. It is only fair that they get their fair share of the spoils of the work they do. But, at the same time, we want to make sure that we have a system that incentivises businesses competing on merit, on innovation and on new ways of doing things, whether that's through a differentiation strategy or by finding other ways to cut costs, such as more efficient machinery and the like.

The cherrypicking of small business data by the coalition as somehow providing support for their position, firstly, fails in a basic causation argument. Secondly, it ignores the fact that new businesses are being created in Australia all the time. The number of new entrants into the market exceeds the number of business insolvencies. There are a number of explanations for business insolvencies. We've obviously had high inflation and it's become increasingly difficult for small businesses to access credit, and these are very serious economic problems that we have to work on. But to suggest that giving fairness to working people is somehow the cause of economic carnage simply isn't borne out by the fact. We've got record employment at the same time as having an increase in wages. That common argument we heard for decades—that increasing wages means everyone will be out of a job—has been proven bunk. We now know that you can get the balance right, that you can have an industrial regime that incentivises workers, their representatives and employers getting together and coming to an appropriate arrangement for their business. That is what enterprise agreements are all about: they're about making sure that the interests of all concerned are duly regarded, that they fall outside the generic regime of a modern award and that those involved get to do something that gets it right for their particular business organisation. We encourage that.

We're also encouraged by the fact that we've seen a record number of enterprise agreements and a record number of workers subject to enterprise agreements. That means appropriate industrial relations tailored to the work, to workers and to the businesses that employ them. This has been a fantastic set of reforms, and we will see the benefits of them continue in the years ahead. I'm encouraged by the fact that real wages are going up for consecutive quarters, and may that long continue.

We've also got to make sure we continue to improve the legal arrangements around businesses to make sure that they have every incentive to increase productivity. Again, increased productivity means more efficient ways of conducting business. I'm so glad to finally see the end of this horrible cycle of trying to win the game by cutting wages to the lowest amount possible. It does not serve families, it does not serve our society and it does not serve business in the longer term. The race to the bottom on wages hurts everyone in the end. You end up with inferior industries. We saw it in child care and we saw it in aged care. If you continue the race to the bottom on wages, what you end up with is an unmotivated workforce, poor productivity and poor service delivery. So I'm glad to see that these reforms are continuing to benefit workers. May they long reign.

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

The member's time has expired. The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.