QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Ms RISHWORTH (Kingston—Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) (15:21): I'd like to thank the member for Boothby not only for her question but also her commitment to improving wages for working Australians. Of course, our Labor government has taken significant action to help hardworking Australians earn more and to get wages moving. It is only this Labor government that works to improve wages for Australians.

And, while our policies are aimed at delivering better wages for workers, I'm also asked by the member for Boothby what would deliver lower wages. There are those in this place and out of this place that advocate for policies to cut workers' pay, and there's no more notorious an organisation for advocating for policies to lower wages than the famous HR Nicholls Society.

Recently, the HR Nicholls Society announced a 14-point plan that, if legislated, would decimate the pay packets of working Australians and usher in WorkChoices on steroids. This plan was launched with a lot of fanfare. And who was the keynote speaker that rushed to endorse this plan?

None other than the current shadow minister for workplace relations, Senator Hume, who was vocally cheering on this 14-point plan. While this Labor government has advocated for wage increases to minimum award wages and for the protection of penalty rates, the Liberals are endorsing the HR Nicholls blueprint that would abolish awards and the safety net in this country.

This Labor government has changed workplace bargaining laws that are delivering higher wages, including for early childhood educators. Not only has the coalition voted against those laws; they've now endorsed the HR Nicholls plan that would take these workers backwards. Our government introduced same job, same pay laws, which have led to more than 8,000 workers receiving significant pay rises.

But, consistent with the coalition's previous commitments, they've again endorsed the intention of the HR Nicholls Society to repeal same job, same pay laws. It comes as no surprise to anyone in this House that the party of WorkChoices—the party that bragged about low wages as a deliberate design feature of their economic policy—are again endorsing a plan to cut wages.

Of course, we all know they'll be supported by One Nation, who voted against these laws to improve the lives of working people and have repeatedly failed to back wage rises for hardworking Australians. It is only this Labor government that Australians can rely on.