Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week the government has been focused on the numbers—the numbers in the Nationals party room, numbers that have delivered a reheated, rehashed Deputy Prime Minister in Barnaby Joyce. But Australians are focused on the numbers that really matter. They are focused on the basic equations that matter to them, and they are asking themselves: 'Am I better off now than eight years ago, when this Liberal government first came into office? Are my wages going up enough to cover the rising cost of everything? Are my wages even going up at all?'

After eight years, three terms, three prime ministers and three deputy prime ministers, what does this government actually add up to for the Australian people? According to the Productivity Commission last week, it adds up to a country facing the worst decade for living standards in over a half a century. It adds up to the worst wages growth on record. Just today, the McKell Institute reports that working Australians would be earning $250 a week more if wage growth had continued at the rate of the last Labor government. Australian workers are $250 a week worse off under this eight-year Liberal government. What else does this tired, eight-year government add up to? A record number of people are working two jobs or three jobs to make ends meet. Almost a million Australians have to work two jobs or three jobs to make ends meet under this government. Job insecurity is eating away at Australian families. It is the big conversation that people are having right now, today. These are the numbers that Australians really care about. These are the numbers that Australians want their government to focus on. And these are the numbers that matter to Australians today.

Here's the real equation of this eight-year Liberal government: living standards going backwards, wages frozen and going backwards, massive job insecurity and a government that is focused not on those numbers but on the numbers in its own party rooms. But members of this government come in here slapping themselves on the back. They come in here telling each other what a great job they are doing. 'How good are we?' they ask; 'Aren't we doing a great job!' Well, let me tell you, it is the Australian people who are doing a great job right now. It is the essential workers of Australia who are keeping us safe and keeping this country running who are doing a great job right now. It is Australia's people, who are doing everything that is asked of them to fight this virus, who are doing a great job right now—all while the government completely stuffs up on its main responsibilities, all while this government stuffs up the two major jobs that Australians need it to do.

This government has completely stuffed up the two things the Australian people really need the federal government to take responsibility for right now. They have stuffed up the vaccine rollout and they have stuffed up building quarantine facilities—the two things Australians really need so they can feel safe, so they can feel secure, so they can feel confident about the future. Australians, after the year they have had, deserve to feel confident about the future. Australians deserve to feel confident that there is a plan for their future. Australians should be able to count on one secure job in order to get by, not two, three or even four insecure jobs. Australians should be able to count on their wages going up. Australians should be able to count on their living standards going forwards, not going backwards more than half a century.

While this tired eight-year-old government pats itself on the back, while those opposite focus on knifing each other in the back, on the Labor side we are focusing on the future. Labor will put good, secure jobs at the heart of our recovery, because we know what really matters to Australians: their jobs, their wages, their living standards and their future.

Senate adjourned at 20:16