QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for the Environment and Water) (14:58): The Albanese government's workplace reforms continue to deliver strong outcomes for Australian workers, with the highest number of active enterprise agreements since June 2018. After 10 years of a coalition government who deliberately held wages low, the Albanese Labor government is now delivering higher wages with policies that enable Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn.

Enterprise agreements are good for workers and good for businesses. Workers get better pay and conditions, and businesses get more flexibility and productivity. The latest Trends in federal enterprise bargaining report shows that there were 11,614 active enterprise agreements in place as of June 2026, and, as I say, that's the highest in nearly 10 years.

Our Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act was passed by our government in December 2022 to improve wages, reinvigorate enterprise bargaining, address the gender pay gap and improve job security, and that's exactly what that legislation has done. Now almost 2.6 million Australian workers are covered by current enterprise agreements. Employees covered by new enterprise agreements received average annual wage increases of four per cent, compared with 3.2 per cent growth in the wage price index.

So workers who are covered by enterprise agreements are earning more than the average worker. This marks eight consecutive quarters in which wages under enterprise agreements have grown faster than the national average. But, of course, not everyone agrees with our successful reforms, which are putting more money in the pockets of workers across the country.

I noticed that, over the last three weeks, Senator Hume has used a speech at the HR Nicholls Society, those noted supporters of Australian workers, to prove again that the coalition does not support workers' rights, including the right to disconnect and same job, same pay laws. What that means is that, if it were up to the coalition and One Nation, tens of thousands of dollars would be stripped from workers' pay packets each and every week.

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