QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Dr CHALMERS (Rankin—Treasurer) (14:14): For as long as I've known the member for Maribyrnong she's stood up for and spoken up for workers, particularly low-paid workers and especially in the care economy. I thank her for her question. This is a really important week for our economy, and it's a big day for tax reform in particular.
Yesterday we saw headline inflation go down. Today we saw the unemployment rate go down and employment go up. And this afternoon we passed the most ambitious tax reforms in more than a quarter of a century.
Those job numbers today show that more than 1.25 million jobs have now been created on this Prime Minister's and this government's watch, most of them full-time. It means that average unemployment under our government is the lowest of any government in the last half a century. It's a very welcome reminder of the strength of our labour market and the resilience of our economy in the face of all this global economic uncertainty.
This afternoon the House will have a very important choice to make. This side of the House will be voting for tax cuts for workers, a fair go for first home buyers and a fairer tax system. The three right-wing parties, united by their divisive antiworker agenda, will be voting against tax cuts, against a fair go for first home buyers and against a fairer tax system.
This legislation that will pass the House this afternoon is about making it easier for people to buy their first home, not their 20th investment property. It's all about cutting income taxes again and again, and it's about making the tax system fairer. As important as this week is in our economy, next week will be just as important, because on Wednesday next week more than 14 million Australian taxpayers will get another tax cut from this government.
The national minimum wage goes up. Modern award wages go up. Parents will get 26 weeks of paid parental leave, up from 24 weeks, in addition to the usual indexation.
We'll also have workers benefiting from super being paid at the same time as their salary and their wages. We'll introduce the ban on excessive pricing of groceries. People will start to get the benefit from the instant tax deduction as well.
On this side of the House we're very proud of the tax reforms that will pass the House later today. We're very proud of our efforts to cut income taxes again, make it easier for first home buyers and make the tax system fairer. The three right-wing parties, in their usual way, are trying to stand in the way of all of those things.