Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak against this motion by Senator Sharma, and I want to start by saying that we know Australians are doing it tough. We've said it—I've said it—in this place over the past couple of weeks. The Prime Minister has said it. Colleagues have said it. And that's an important conversation for us to have. But I think what is actually reckless, to use the words of Senator Sharma, is when those opposite continue to not be up-front with the Australian people about the facts. So I'm going to share some facts here that might assist them, because I think we continue to see the reasons Australians in recent years and across recent elections have come to no longer trust the coalition on running the economy. We've seen the party who used to be trusted on managing the economy having lost that trust of the Australian people, and I think today is yet another example of why that is the case.

So here are the facts. Living standards grew by two per cent through to the December quarter last year. The latest OECD data shows that our living standards are growing at twice the average of major advanced economies. What is the coalition's record? When they were sitting on the government benches, what did Australians see? They saw a deliberate strategy of keeping wages low. They saw consecutive quarters after consecutive quarters of wages going down, inflation rising and a trillion dollars of debt. When we came to government in 2022, inflation had a six in front of it. And to talk about higher taxes is incredible to me—from a political party who took to the last election a plan to have higher taxes than Australians have under this Labor government. It is extraordinary.

But, on our watch, the story is different. We have had stronger wage growth and rising living standards that Australians did not see under the former government. We brought inflation down from its peak. We've had eight consecutive quarters of annual wage growth, the longest period in more than a decade. Annual nominal wages have grown by above three per cent for 14 quarters in a row, the highest streak in more than 15 years. Come July, every Australian worker will see another tax cut delivered by the Albanese government, and they'll get another one next year, too. I say it again: those opposite took to the last election a plan to not deliver those tax cuts. If those opposite had won the election in May last year, Australians would be paying more tax today than they are under this government.

We saw no evidence of good economic management from those opposite when they were in government. We certainly saw no effort on their behalf to raise the living standards of ordinary Australians. Our government is committed to helping Australians get ahead. Our government is committed to making sure Australians can earn more and keep more of what they earn. We have seen record investment from this government in helping Australians meet the cost of essentials, whether it's making sure that Australians can access cheaper medicines, whether it's making sure that more Australians can see the GP for free or whether it's cutting student debt. We fought hard for wage rises for some of our hardest working Australians, such as aged-care workers and childcare workers, and this week our government has come out asking for the Fair Work Commission to increase the wages of minimum-wage workers.

This is the work of a Labor government that is absolutely committed to helping Australians when times are tough. We know that people are under pressure, and that's why we are doing something about it, while still finding savings in the budget. We are delivering tax cuts for every taxpayer. We are delivering cheaper medicines. We are slashing student debt and we are backing higher wages. We are committed to doing the work that those opposite showed they were simply not up to doing when they were last in government.