Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

It is interesting, isn’t it, that those on this side of the chamber are very clear about the importance of the fight against inflation both in terms of what we have been doing since we were elected to government and what we indicated prior to the election in our approach to ensuring that our workplace relations changes did not in any way add to inflation? As Senator Sherry previously indicated, the government is determined to fight inflation. We are clear that one of the planks on which we will do that is fiscal restraint. That may be something that those opposite seem to no longer understand now that they are in opposition, but we regard that as important. We have a five-point plan to fight inflation, which includes setting a fiscal target surplus of 1.5 per of GDP.

We will also tackle the supply-side constraints which for so long were not the subject of attention of the former government. We will also address inflationary pressures through a fair and balanced workplace relations system as we outlined we would before the election. I want to emphasise what we stated: our system would be based on bargaining at the enterprise level, with productivity gains as the incentive for wage increases. I want to emphasise what the Deputy Prime Minister has said and what the Prime Minister said prior to the election, which was made very clear to the Australian people. We will not be returning to a system of centralised wage fixation. Under our system, a wage outcome in one enterprise or one sector will not flow automatically into another.

Unlike those opposite, we do not believe in addressing inflation by simply suppressing the wages of the worst paid workers in Australia, which was the effect of the extreme Work Choices laws which this opposition passed in government and which, as we see today in the Senate chamber, the opposition are determined to keep in place for as long as possible.