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

I don't agree with all of the language that was used by Senator Whitten in that question. But, of course, the government take responsibility for the decisions that we make and the fact that inflation has come down. When we came to government it had a 'six' in front of it, Senator Whitten. You weren't here then, but that was the reality. That is a fact. It is now half of that, and that makes a difference. That's why the decisions we took in the last parliament were focused on getting inflation down and back into band, and that's what's happened.

Debt is down. Again, what has an important role to play in the economy is how we manage our debt, which is why $188 billion less debt was an important part of our plan to respond. We're getting real wages growing again. That's a key priority of this government. After a decade of no wage growth or stagnant wage growth, we saw seven successive quarters of wage growth under this government because of the decisions we took. We take responsibility for those.

Unemployment is down. Unemployment is at historic lows, with 1.1 million jobs created under this government, including seeing women's participation in the labour market at record highs. Why do you think that is? It's because we're getting the gender pay gap down. It's because we're investing in early education and care so that women can make more choices. We're getting rid of things like the activity test and punitive restraints on women's economic participation. That is what we are doing. That is what we are doing. And interest have fallen three times. So there is more work to do. The Treasurer and I say that all the time. There is more work to do. Our work is not finished, but the Australian people have a government that will continue to invest and make the right decisions.