Senate debates Questions without Notice

Wages and Salaries


Murray Watt

Murray Watt Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water

2:48 pm

I know, Senator McKenzie—in what's your valedictory interjection over there—you're still complaining about workers getting pay rises. Well, continue with that until you're replaced by One Nation.

The Albanese Labor government is helping Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn, with wages, growth and tax cuts for workers. Before the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East, we saw strong real wage growth for eight consecutive quarters, and, all up, wages have grown above three per cent for Australians for all four years under the Albanese Labor government—the first time this has happened in 17 years. Just think about that. In 16 consecutive quarters, under the Albanese Labor government, we have seen wages rise above three per cent. In contrast, in how many quarters do you reckon we saw wages rise, under the coalition, by more than three per cent? One? Two? Zero. In not one quarter in the 10 years of coalition government did we see wages rise above three per cent—16 in a row under the Albanese Labor government.

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