Anika Wells:
Good morning, everybody. I’m Anika Wells, federal Member for Lilley. Welcome to the majestic kingdom of Lilley. It’s always great to be home and here at Volgren, where for the past 15 years in part of our manufacturing hub here on the Northside, Volgren has been not just helping commuters get to places on public transport but providing great secure jobs for auto electricians, for welders, for spray painters who live and love working here on the north side of Brisbane. So, welcome news yesterday for them with the RBA rate cut, it means that for the more than 90,000 people who are employed in Lilley here, working in places like Volgren or like the Brisbane Airport or like Westfield Chermside or like the Prince Charles Hospital, many of those people are mortgage holders and yesterday’s news means that they will be about $1,000 a year better off as a result of this rate cut.
We know that is incredibly welcome news, and we know as the Albanese Labor government we have more work to do. And I say as the Aged Care Minister, you’ve seen this term us pump $15 billion into wage rises for aged care workers, some of the lowest paid people, some of the people who most needed a pay rise. We are seeing welcome results and green shoots in places like aged care, but it takes a while to turn the Queen Mary around and that’s why Murray, Jim and I are here to continue that work on cost‑of‑living relief, because the people in Lilley, their households are looking upwards of $90 a month better off as a result of yesterday’s decision, but we’re going to keep working hard for them. And to talk about that, here is Murray Watt.
Murray Watt:
Well, thanks very much, Anika. It’s a pleasure to join you and Jim in your electorate, thanks for having me in your electorate. And thanks to Stewart and the team here at Volgren for showing us around the incredible high‑tech manufacturing that’s going on here right here in Brisbane’s Northside. It was a pleasure to talk with a range of the tradespeople who are working here, and today we’ve had more encouraging news for the workers that we are meeting here today and for all workers across Australia.
Building on yesterday’s rate cut from the RBA, today the Australian Bureau of Statistics has released its latest data on wage rises in our country. And what that data shows is that we have now had 5 consecutive quarters of wages growing above inflation in Australia under the Albanese Labor government. The last quarter, the December quarter 2024, showed real wage growth. So, wages growing above inflation by 0.5 per cent. And if you look at the whole year of 2024, we saw real wage growth of 0.8 per cent, leading to 5 consecutive quarters of real wage growth in Australia.
Now, that stands in massive contrast to what we saw under the Coalition when we were first elected. The 5 quarters leading into the last election, we saw real wages going backwards under the Coalition. Wages were falling and not keeping pace with inflation. And over the last nearly 3 years, we’ve been able to turn that around to a point that wages are consistently now rising above inflation. And why does that matter?
It matters because lifting wages is a crucial part of the Albanese government’s plan to assist Australians deal with their cost‑of‑living pressures. And it’s important to recognise that this is a real tribute to the Australian employers and workers who have delivered these wage rises, but it also demonstrates that the changes that we’ve made to Australia’s workplace laws are working as intended. At the last election, we said that we would get wages moving again, and we can now see that happening consistently over the last 5 quarters, and we need to remember that every single change Labor made to our workplace laws in this term of office was voted against by Peter Dutton and the Coalition. They have consistently tried to make life harder for Australians by stopping those wage rises, not to mention voting against everything we’ve done to deliver cost‑of‑living relief as well.
And now, as we approach the end game heading into the next election, I think Australians are taking great notice of the fact that Peter Dutton is already on the record saying that if he wins the next election, he will unwind a number of the changes that we have made to workplace laws. Now, that’s code for sending pay backwards again. So, if you look at the Coalition’s record, when they were last in office, their deliberate policy was to keep wages low, and that’s what they did. In Opposition, they have voted against every step we’ve taken to get wages moving again. And now, as we get ready for the next election, they’re promising to take those gains away and to cut the pay of Australian workers at a time when people still need support.
I’ve got no doubt that this will be a big issue as we head into the next campaign. But today is very encouraging news for Australian workers. I should also mention one facet of the data is that wages are rising faster in the private sector than they are in the public sector, which I think goes against a lot of what we see from the commentators. I’ll leave it at that. Happy to take questions, but I’ll hand them over to Jim now to carry on.
Jim Chalmers:
Thanks, Murray. Thanks, Anika, for having us in your patch. Thanks in particular to Stewart and all of your workers for welcoming us here. This is what a Future Made in Australia looks like. People working together to build, in this case the buses, but the manufacturing sector, we couldn’t be more supportive of the work that happens here in South East Queensland, but indeed right around Australia as well. When the Albanese government came to office, real wages were falling, and interest rates were rising. Now, real wages are growing, and interest rates have started to come down.
For 5 consecutive quarters, real wages have been growing. They fell for 5 consecutive quarters under our Liberal and National predecessors, and that goes to the difference between the parties. Peter Dutton wants lower wages and higher interest rates. What we’ve been able to deliver is much lower inflation, higher real wages, low unemployment. We’ve got the Liberal debt down and now interest rates have started to come down as well. These outcomes aren’t accidental. They’re deliberate. We have been working around the clock for the best part of 3 years to fight inflation, to roll out cost‑of‑living help and to get real wages growing again in our country. And that’s because Labor’s reason for being is to make sure that there are more Australians working, earning more and keeping more of what they earn.
That’s why today’s wages data is so encouraging because it shows that quarter after quarter after quarter, we’ve been able to get real wages growing again after they were falling for a prolonged period under our predecessors when we came to office. Earning more, keeping more of what they earn, that is the story of the labour market under this Albanese Labor government.
We have got the lowest average unemployment rate of any government in the last 50 years. And what makes Australia unusual is we’ve been able to get inflation down while we get wages up and keep unemployment low. We’ve been able to deal with some of the debt that was left to us by the Liberals and we’re seeing interest rates starting to come down as well. Now, in New Zealand, they cut rates today as well, just like they cut rates in Australia yesterday. The difference is the New Zealand economy is in recession. Their unemployment rate is 5.1 per cent. We’ve been able to keep the economy ticking over, delivering real wages growth. We’ve been able to keep unemployment at 4.0 per cent, and all of that, I think, shows what Australians have achieved together over the course of the last 2 and a half to 3 years.
We inherited a mess, and we’ve been working hard to clean it up. And you can see that very conspicuously when it comes to real wages growth. Just last week, Peter Dutton was making the case for higher interest rates. He is desperately disappointed that interest rates were cut yesterday and so has Angus Taylor. Angus Taylor even let it slip that Australians deserve an interest rate increase yesterday when he was responding to the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut interest rates.
We welcome the news that interest rates are being cut in Australia. This is the rate relief that Australians desperately need and deserve after all of the progress that we’ve made together on inflation. When we came to office, inflation was much higher and rising. Now it is lower and falling. When we came to office, interest rates were going up; now they’re coming down. When we came to office, real wages were falling and now they’re growing again. All of these are deliberate design features of our economic policy, and that’s why we’re pleased to see the progress made today in wages and yesterday when it comes to interest rates.
Happy to take some questions.
Journalist:
Does the wages data show that the economy is stabilising? Could it lead to further interest rate cuts?
Chalmers:
I don’t want to make predictions about future movements in interest rates. I welcome enthusiastically the Reserve Bank’s decision yesterday to cut rates because it will take some of the edge off mortgage costs for millions of Australians who desperately need that help. We understand that people are under substantial cost‑of‑living pressure, but more than acknowledge that, we’re doing something about it. Getting wages moving again, the tax cuts, the energy bill relief, cheaper early childhood education, cheaper medicine, rent assistance, all of this is about doing more than recognising people are under pressure and actually doing something about it. We know that one interest rate cut doesn’t automatically solve all of the challenges in our economy or all of the pressure on household budgets, but it will help, and that’s why we welcome it.
Here, the contrast is really important. Peter Dutton wants higher interest rates and lower wages. If he had his way, Australians would be thousands of dollars worse off right now. They’ll be worse off still if he wins, and that’s because he will go after wages again, he’ll go after Medicare again, he’ll push up electricity prices with nuclear reactors and Australians would be worse off as a consequence. That means whenever the election is called, it’s a pretty simple choice: Labor getting wages moving again, helping with the cost of living, fighting inflation and building Australia’s future, a Future Made in Australia, versus Peter Dutton and the Coalition, who will make people worse off and take Australia backwards.
Journalist:
Do we expect a surplus in your next Budget?
Chalmers:
We’re not anticipating that in the government’s fourth Budget, we released not that long ago in the mid‑year update, the best assessment of the budget position. We have already delivered 2 budget surpluses. That’s the first time that’s happened in almost 2 decades and that’s helping in the fight against inflation as the Reserve Bank Governor says.
The deficit for this year, it’s a deficit, but it’s smaller than what we inherited from our predecessors. And that’s a demonstration of our responsible economic management, which has been the defining feature of this Labor government.
Journalist:
[indistinct] some of the subdued reaction to the rate cut. I’ll refer to some headlines from some of the major newspapers saying it’s a rate relief with a catch, you’re the one‑cut wonder. Has that caught you by surprise?
Chalmers:
Well, I think the Liberal Party and their cheerleaders in the media were really disappointed when rates were cut, and we see that reflected in the commentary. A lot of that commentary is a political position dressed up as economic commentary. There are people associated with the Liberal Party who are very disappointed that rates were cut, or inflation’s come down substantially, or real wages are growing, or we’ve been able to deliver 2 [surpluses]. I try not to focus too much on the partisan commentary. I focus on the objective commentary, and any objective observer of the Australian economy under Labor would conclude that inflation is down substantially, wages are up, unemployment is low, the debt is down from what we inherited and interest rates have started to be cut as well. All 5 of those things are positive developments. We’re confident about the future of our economy, but we’re not complacent. We know that there are still cost‑of‑living pressures. That’s why the cost‑of‑living relief that we are rolling out, which Peter Dutton opposed, is so important.
I thought the Reserve Bank Governor made a really important point yesterday. She said she’s optimistic about the future but alive to the risks in the economy. That’s a view that we share. There’s a lot of global economic uncertainty right now in particular, but we can be confident but not complacent about the future of our economy, given the progress that Australians have made together over the course of the last couple of years.
Journalist:
What do you make of Clive Palmer and his trumpet politics and sticking a million dollars into the [indistinct]?
Chalmers:
Any vote for a minor right‑wing party is the same as a vote for the major right‑wing party, and that puts Medicare and wages at risk. So, I say to Australians who are tempted by the big dollars of Clive Palmer and others to be very careful about where you put your vote at the next election. Any non‑Labor vote puts Medicare and wages at risk. And we know that because Peter Dutton has said that he will cut $350 billion, he needs to find $600 billion from somewhere for nuclear reactors and he won’t tell Australians where those cuts are going to come from.
That should send a shiver up the spine of every Australian, and particularly every Australian worker, not telling us the agenda for secret cuts. And so, a vote for Clive Palmer or Pauline Hanson or any one of a number of these minor right‑wing parties is a vote for Peter Dutton, and that’s a vote for cuts that we won’t know about until after the election.
Journalist:
How would you categorise the Budget you’re putting together? Are we going to see more cost‑of‑living sugar hits like rebates, or is it going to be more responsible?
Chalmers:
The best hint I could give you for the government’s fourth Budget is that it will be like the first 3, and that means responsible. The government’s fourth Budget will be defined by responsible economic management, rolling out meaningful and substantial cost‑of‑living relief where that is responsible and affordable. That’s been the approach we took in the first 3, that’ll be the approach that we take in the fourth. We know even with the progress that we’ve made together on inflation and wages, and now interest rates, we know that people are still under pressure. What we do in every budget, not just this fourth Budget, is we weigh up the economic conditions, the budget pressures, the pressures on people in their household budgets, and we do the best that we can by them.
Journalist:
Will power bill rebates, do you classify that as responsible?
Chalmers:
We haven’t finalised the Budget yet, and obviously there are a whole range of measures which are under consideration, but not yet finalised. We’ve made it clear in our first 3 budgets, the tax cuts are helping people right now. The energy bill relief, early childhood education, cheaper medicines, getting wages moving again, rent assistance, Fee‑Free TAFE. We’ve shown a willingness before to fund cost‑of‑living help in a substantial way, but in a responsible way. And if we can afford to do more in the fourth Budget, of course, we’re considering that right now.
Journalist:
Do you intend to deliver a Budget before the election, Treasurer?
Chalmers:
That’s our expectation. We’ve spent some hours in the Cabinet room earlier this week putting together the Budget for the 25th of March, and we will continue to work towards that.
The timing of the election is a matter for the Prime Minister, my job is to continue to work on the Budget with Katy Gallagher and other colleagues to make sure that we’re ready to go.
Journalist:
Wages have slowed, their growth has slowed. Should Australians expect this to continue?
Chalmers:
We want strong and sustainable wages growth, and we’re absolutely delighted to see that. For 5 consecutive quarters now, we’ve seen annual real wage growth in our economy because it was falling for 5 quarters when we came to office. I think, as I said before, our reason for being as a Labor government is to get more people working, earning more and keeping more of what they earn. Not as some kind of accidental outcome, but as a deliberate consequence of our economic strategy. The tax cuts are a big part of that, keeping more of what you earn.
All of our policies on wages, which Murray is now responsible for, they are part of getting wages growing again. So, we’re seeing real wages growth. That’s a good thing. The Wage Price Index has moderated a little bit, but not a lot. Overwhelmingly, the story of the last 5 quarters has been real wages growth and that’s a good thing.
Journalist:
Will any pre‑election handouts stoke inflation?
Chalmers:
We’re obviously very conscious of the broader economic conditions when we finalise the Budget and not just when it comes to cost‑of‑living help. And what we’ve shown in our cost‑of‑living relief to date is we’ve been able to put downward pressure on electricity prices, on early childhood education, on rent as well, to take some of the edge off those cost‑of‑living pressures. That would be a similar approach that we would consider as we put the fourth Budget together.
Again, it comes back to the choice and the contrast. Peter Dutton opposed our cost‑of‑living help. If he had his way, Australians would be thousands of dollars worse off right now and they’ll be worse off still if he wins, and that comes to the choice at the election: a Labor government working around the clock to get people better pay, to give every taxpayer a tax cut to help with their electricity bills – or Peter Dutton, who will come after wages again, come after Medicare again, push electricity prices up with these nuclear reactors. As we get closer to the election, whenever it is, the choice is really crystallising. Labor, helping with the cost of living, getting wages moving again, strengthening Medicare and building Australia’s future, versus Peter Dutton and the Coalition who will make people worse off and take Australia backwards.
I’ll take one more question then I think we’re done here.
Journalist:
Can I ask you about the Whyalla steelworks? The ABC has been told that potentially that’s been placed into administration by the state government. Have you been briefed on that and have you got any assurances for workers?
Chalmers:
More than being briefed, a number of us have been in discussions with our South Australian counterparts for a little while now. We want to see a future for steel in Whyalla. That is a really important town, and we are big believers in the future of Whyalla. We’re big believers in the future of the Australian steel industry and Australian manufacturing more broadly. No government has been a bigger believer in a Future Made in Australia than ours, and so that’s really driven us in our conversations with our South Australian counterparts.
The Prime Minister has been talking to Premier Malinauskas; Minister Husic’s been talking to his counterpart. I’ve been talking to Treasurer Mullighan, and we’ll have more to say about those discussions in due course.
Journalist:
Can’t say whether it has been placed into administration?
Chalmers:
We’ll have more to say about that when that’s appropriate. Thanks very much.