Questions Without Notice
Wages
Ms SWANSON (Paterson) (15:11): My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. After a decade of wage stagnation, why are better wages so important to the Albanese Labor government's economic agenda, and what approaches has our government rejected?
Mr BURKE (Watson—Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for the Arts and Leader of the House) (15:11): I thank the member for Paterson for the question and acknowledge the member's advocacy—including, in particular, of closing the labour hire loophole, which was being used in such an appalling way in her part of Australia. As the Treasurer has already reported, we're pleased to say today, as the numbers have come in, that real wages are still growing in this country. That's real wages growing compared to when we came to office, when they were going backwards at 3.4 per cent. We've talked about tests for the Leader of the Opposition. When I talk about real wages growing, the shadow Treasurer is shaking his head, saying, 'No, they're not.' So, when he leaves, here's a test: 4.1 and 3.6—write both down and work out which is the bigger number. Four point one is what's happening with wages; 3.6 is what's happening with inflation. Don't try to work it out now. Wait till you get back to the office. There'll be people to help you and maybe even an abacus available. But, when wages are rising faster than inflation, that's called real wages growth.
But I understand why they're sensitive about it. Wages growth, the WPI, when they were in office for their 10 years, averaged 2.2 per cent. You look at what the Treasurer announced last night in the budget. Have a look at Budget Paper No. 1—you might not have reached that one yet—and you'll see the projection over the next four years, with real wages projected to grow in year 1, year 2, year 3 and year 4. But, if real wages were still running at 2.2 per cent, as they averaged over then, real wages would be going backwards in year 1, year 2, year 3 and year 4. And we know this has been their view the whole way through, because it was the shadow Treasurer himself who, when we introduced our secure jobs, better pay bill, when asked why he opposed it, said, 'Well, it pushes up wages.' And then, only as recently as Sunday on Insiders—and I can understand why the shadow Treasurer didn't turn up to question time yesterday, straight after the Insiders interview. I'm not sure if it was because of budget rules or at the—
Mr Taylor: It was a lock-up!
Mr BURKE: I don't know if you were locked up because of budget rules or at the request of your colleagues. It was one or the other. In that interview, when asked about the budget—
Honourable members interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left and right will cease interjecting.
Mr BURKE: he said these words:
… the way to get there is pretty straightforward. You do exactly what Mathias Cormann did from 2013 …
Which minister was the one who referred to low wages being a deliberate design feature of their economic management? It was Mathias Cormann and this opposition. I'm looking forward to the announcements tomorrow night when we hear from the Leader of the Opposition what the costed policies are, when we hear from the Leader of the Opposition what the targeted package of repeals are. We know they want to cut wages. They want to cut wages, they want to pay for their nuclear reactors.
Mr Albanese: I ask that further question be placed on the Notice Paper.
