Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Bilyk. I again acknowledge the work of Senator Bilyk in advocating for increased wages for the lowest paid workers in this country.

In 2023 we invested $11.3 billion to deliver a historic increase to the award wage for 250,000 workers. This had been a campaign that had been building from those workers themselves, through their union and into this parliament. We know the change that this has brought about. Not only are those workers getting better wages, fairer wages and having their work respected; we're now seeing that there's an increase in retaining workers and attracting workers to that sector. I have no doubt we'll see similar change when early childhood educators get their wage increase on 1 December. Registered nurses are now taking home an additional $196 a week, or more than $10,000 a year, and personal care workers are now taking home an additional $141 a week. (Time expired)