QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Ms RISHWORTH (Kingston—Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) (14:28): I'd like to thank the member for Hasluck for her question and the hardworking advocacy she does on behalf of her constituency. Our government is committed to delivering cost-of-living relief for Australians, including by delivering real wage increases for our hardworking workers.
Of course, getting wages moving is a core part of our government's agenda, with our workplace relations reforms designed to reinvigorate enterprise bargaining and get wages moving. These reforms were desperately needed after a decade of coalition government, which presided over low wages which they used to brag about as being part of a deliberate design feature of their economic policy.
Well, our laws are now working. They are getting wages moving. We have now seen economy-wide annual real wage increases above inflation for the past seven quarters in a row.
Wages grew by 3.4 per cent in the 12 months to the June quarter, representing a real wage increase of 1.3 per cent. That is the strongest annual real wages growth we have seen in five years, and we have seen the longest run of annual real wage growth at or above 0.7 per cent for a decade. Wage increases are even higher for those covered by enterprise bargaining agreements.
The latest data revealed that approved agreements in the June quarter this year delivered an annual wage increase of 4.2 per cent. This is up from the 3.8 per cent recorded in the March quarter and above the average over the last five years. The private sector is leading the way with newly approved enterprise agreements in the most recent quarter, recording higher pay increases compared to approvals in the public sector.
From 1 July this year, the minimum wage for award workers saw a 3.5 per cent increase. This decision followed our government's submission calling for an economically sustainable real-wage increase for Australia's award-reliant workers. This, of course, was ongoingly rejected by those opposite.
We've protected the pay packets of those award-reliant workers who work weekends and unsociable hours by enshrining protections of their penalty rates in law. Under our government we've seen real wages grow, unemployment remaining at historically low levels and inflation coming down. While those opposite continue to be preoccupied by their own melodrama, which could rival The Bold and the Beautiful, our government is focused on delivering for Australian workers and delivering for Australian people.