Well Mr Speaker I’m not going to take a lecture from an opposition spokesman where we know we they were in government for over six years, they saw a reduction in real minimum wages when Labor was in office.
The fact of the matter is, we are celebrating the Australian people and the Australian economy’s resilience in the face of a once in a century pandemic.
We are celebrating the fact that Australia has fared better than nearly every other country in the world in both the health and economic front. And the fact that Australia… I was still a long way to go. We still have a long way to go and a lot of ground to make up but we are celebrating the fact that Australians are getting back into work. Australians are getting back into work and the Member for Rankin would know that payroll jobs data was up-to-date up today and is now up for three consecutive fortnights. When it comes to real wages and taking into account inflation, they have grown at a rate of 0.7% under the Coalition.
That is in line with the 20 year average. Of course we have had a terrible head to the economy with the pandemic and as the RBA governor has said, as the RBA governor has said, this is a very challenging time for the economy. Our focus has been on jobs, creating more jobs and helping Australians get back into work and that is what has occurred and that is what the numbers are showing.
