22 February 2024

Opinion piece: Helping WA workers earn more and keep more

Note

Published in The West Australian

One of the reasons we spent time in the West this week is because we are big believers in the workers and communities of WA and that’s why they are front and centre in our economic plan.

Because of our efforts WA workers are earning more, and because of our tax cuts they’ll be keeping more of what they earn as well.

This week’s new wages data shows real wages growth is back, ahead of schedule.

We’ve now seen real wages growth for three consecutive quarters for the first time since 2018.

It’s a good thing that Western Australians earn more than the rest of the country on average, and that means the average tax cut is higher in the West as well.

New Treasury analysis shows that Labor’s tax cuts to help with the cost of living will deliver an average tax cut of $2,030 to Western Australian taxpayers from July 1.

That figure is over $140 more than the national average and $709 more on average than they would have received under Scott Morrison’s proposal from five years ago.

Our plan is designed to ensure the workers of the West are the big beneficiaries of Labor’s tax cuts.

New data also shows that workers in the top 10 occupations in WA will be some of the nation’s biggest beneficiaries of Labor’s cost‑of‑living tax cuts.

Thirty thousand WA nurses will get a tax cut and 97 per cent across the country will get a bigger tax cut under our changes.

Twenty‑eight thousand Western Australian sales assistants will get a tax cut and 95 per cent will get a bigger tax cut.

Twenty‑six thousand administration assistants and office workers will get a tax cut and 95 per cent all over the country will get a bigger tax cut – and the list goes on.

Workers in some of the West’s most important industries like the resources sector also stand to be big beneficiaries.

Twelve thousand metal fitters and machinists in the West will get a tax cut and 84 per cent will get a bigger tax cut under our changes.

Sixteen thousand drillers, miners and shot firers in the West will get a tax cut and 70 per cent will get a bigger tax cut.

And 8000 building and engineering technicians in the West will get a tax cut, with more than 60 per cent of these workers getting a bigger tax cut.

Our tax cuts are better for the economy and better for the workers of Western Australia.

Every one of the 1.5 million taxpayers across the state will get a tax cut under Labor’s changes and 81 per cent will get a bigger tax cut.

Of those, around 700,000 Western Australian women will get a tax cut from July 1.

Six hundred thousand women – or 90 per cent of female taxpayers in Western Australia will get a bigger tax cut than they would have under Scott Morrison’s proposal from before the pandemic.

We understand that everyone is under pressure, and we believe everyone deserves help with the cost of living.

No matter what you do for a living, how much you earn or where you live in the West, every taxpayer up and down the income scale will get a tax cut under a Labor government.

Under our plan, someone earning $100,000 a year will get a tax cut of $2,179 a year or $41.90 per week.

Someone earning $140,000 a year will get a tax cut of $3,729 per year or $71.71 per week.

And someone earning $200,000 a year will get a tax cut of $4,529 per year or $87.10 per week.

That means more help for working families and more help for people already under the pump.

We recognise that the workers and businesses of Western Australia make a big and important contribution to the national economy and we think it’s only fair that they share in that economic prosperity.

We want Western Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn.

That’s demonstrated in so many of the important policies we discussed while in Perth for Cabinet this week – from our commitment to the GST deal struck with the WA Government, to our historic doubling of the Royal Australian Navy surface fleet in which the West will get a big slice of the action, to the substantial investment in housing we made as part of a partnership with the Cook Labor Government in the Perth CBD, right through to our bigger tax cuts to help with the cost of living – we have proven that we will always look after Western Australia.

We want to help Western Australian workers earn more and keep more of what they earn and that’s what our policies are designed to ensure, right up and down the income scale.

Because the Albanese Labor Government will always do best by the West.