Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Senator Abetz. Australian families want to feel financially safe and secure. Is the minister aware that, except for Western Australia, the latest statistics show that average weekly earnings are not keeping up with inflation? ABN AMRO’s chief economist is reported as saying this is because Work Choices has been ‘reducing the bargaining power of workers’. Unemployment is low, so workers should be in a good bargaining position. The government says that, since Work Choices was implemented, wages have been going up. How does the government reconcile this rhetoric with the statistics that show average weekly earnings are not keeping up with inflation? What does the minister have to say to Australian families whose wages have gone backwards?