STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator ANANDA-RAJAH (Victoria) (13:30): It's the end of the financial year. The sales are on, and this Labor government is putting money back into the pockets of Australians. All working Australians will be getting a tax cut—around $270 this year and more again next year.

They'll be able to claim $1,000 back in tax with no receipts, making it super easy. And we have brought in the working Australian tax offset, an additional $250 that will start from next year. All up, these five tax cuts mean that the average worker will be over $2,800 better off.

We're also boosting the national minimum wage. We have backed in increases to the minimum wage five times. No-one else thinks about workers on the minimum wage.

The minimum wage will now be increasing to over $1,000 a week. That is a huge milestone for this country, and that means we're going to be helping young people, women, part timers, casuals and the people who work in our service industries, retail, hospital and farms. In addition to that, payday super has arrived.

That means that your super will now be paid alongside your wages, not several months down the track. It means that we're going to stop this leakage and the dodgy behaviour of employers who have tried to avoid paying super to workers. It means that an average 25-year-old will now retire with an additional $5,000 in their super.

That is significant. It was hard won and fought for by the Labor government. In addition to this, for families paid parental leave will be expanding to 26 weeks, from 20 weeks when we came in government, and we're slapping super on top of that.

That means we're trying to close that horrible gap that happens to mothers. (Time expired)