Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy President, and you know, as a proud Western Australian, that economics is so important to us in Western Australia; it's a fine state.

But our government have worked particularly hard. There were two large Liberal deficits that they left behind, and Labor turned those into surpluses. We got our debt down to $188 billion in 2024-25, after what they left us. We turned around the rabble that was left behind by the opposition. The average real payment growth has been limited to 1.7 per cent per year and around 3.2 percent over a 30-year average. Our finance team and our treasury have done amazing work to do that.

I know that it pains the opposition to sit here and listen to that, given what's currently going on within the Liberal-National coalition. It was a deliberate design feature of their economic policy to keep wages lower in this country, but we over here on this side of the chamber, the Albanese Labor government, are absolutely committed to real wage growth. Our government is a government that cares about real wage growth for Australians, and we want to make sure that Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn. That is what we are about. We are a mature party of government; that's exactly what the Minister for Finance, Minister Gallagher, said during question time. And unity is at the heart of that. We see over there the different policies coming in and out of the different folk that are putting their hands up for leadership positions. But we care about what Australians want: real wage growth. And that's at the heart of what we are doing in our economic work across our treasury and finance areas.

Let me go to some of the other conversations. I think Senator Mulholland spoke about the speed limits on roads. They're important for our regional centres, and it's important they're maintained. Our wonderful repping minister, Minister McCarthy, articulated the investment that we, the Albanese Labor government, are making. So I won't do that one to death during this time, in taking note.

I'll also talk a little bit about Minister Watt's contribution and his responses to questions from Senator Duniam in relation to illegal tobacco and the $256 million investment that we are making to ensure that we are tackling this problem. I'm a member of the law enforcement committee, chaired by the wonderful Senator Polley from Tasmania. We are working with our state and territory partners, Border Force, law enforcement agencies and other agencies—more importantly—to ensure that this is front of mind in our communities.

I want to finish with something that is absolutely critical. As Minister Watt responded today—what a landmark day for the environment here in Australia. It is the work of Minister Watt, and I want to congratulate him for his leadership and congratulate those over in the House. We've heard the bells going all day, with the voting that's been going on. This is important—get behind EPBC reform!