QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:07): Thanks to Senator Stewart, and I recognise her and her Labor colleagues' determination to deliver real change for the people who send them here to the Australian parliament. Senator Stewart mentions that the government did support a real increase in the minimum wage and a real increase in award wages, and yesterday three million Australian workers got a pay rise.

Senator Cash: Still going backwards. Senator WONG: I'll take the interjection from the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, because, every time we talk about higher wages, it's really quite interesting—the way the right-wing parties get so upset by the thought that Australian workers might actually get higher wages. But, of course, not only was the award and minimum wage rise delivered; every single Australian taxpayer got a tax cut, and all five of the Albanese Labor government's tax cuts together mean about an extra $2,800 in the pocket of the average worker.

You see, on this side, we want to see higher wages and lower taxes. We want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn. This is what real change looks like.

That is why we've also banned supermarket price gouging, with tough new rules that came into effect yesterday—big fines for breaches. That is why we have opened all 137 Medicare urgent care clinics that we committed to and have made them a permanent part of Australia's healthcare system. This means four out of five Australians now live within 20 minutes drive of their local clinic.

And yesterday this government lifted paid parental leave to the full 26 weeks, giving new families and parents more peace of mind and the support they need to give their baby the best start in life. This is the real change that the Labor government, the Labor Party, is delivering for the Australian people. The PRESIDENT: Senator Stewart, first supplementary?