Portfolio — 20 August 2026

The Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Ms Rishworth, anchored the day's activity in a coordinated wage-growth and labour-market narrative spanning media releases and parliamentary question time, while also announcing local health infrastructure in her South Australian electorate.

**Labour Market Data and Wage Growth**

The Minister's media releases responded to July labour force data showing unemployment edging up to 4.5 percent, a level she characterised as historically low [TA-260820-dewr-40ca659784fb]. Full-time employment reached a record 10.2 million Australians, with 16,300 jobs added in July and over 1.3 million created since May 2022 [TA-260820-dewr-40ca659784fb]. The Minister highlighted real wages growth in the June quarter and nominal wages above 3 percent annually for four consecutive years under the Albanese government.

The same wage-growth theme anchored her question time contribution. The Minister told the House the Albanese government is delivering higher wages to address cost-of-living pressures [TA-260819-house-e023dad986e7:s177]. She announced the first gig-worker minimum standard has come into force, giving platform delivery drivers a 25 percent pay rise.

She cited the same ABS wage data — nominal wages above three percent for four years and real wages growth in the June quarter — reinforcing the media release narrative in the chamber.

**Legislative Record and Political Attack**

In question time, the Minister catalogued the government's workplace relations achievements: backing wage rises for the lowest-paid workers each year, reinvigorating enterprise bargaining, closing what she called the "labour hire loophole," and referencing legislation from the Minister for Education locking in a 15 percent pay increase for early educators. She warned that "if the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation were to ever form government, wages would be on the chopping block" [TA-260819-house-e023dad986e7:s177].

The portfolio's approach centres on securing regular wage growth and extending minimum standards to gig and low-paid workers through legislation and enterprise bargaining [TA-260819-house-e023dad986e7:s177].

**Local Health Announcements**

In a procedural contribution, the Minister announced a new Medicare mental health walk-in clinic in Onkaparinga, in Adelaide's southern suburbs [TA-260819-house-e023dad986e7:s108], and a new perinatal mental health centre providing specialised support for new and expectant parents [TA-260819-house-e023dad986e7:s108]. These investments reflect a portfolio approach of expanding community-based mental health services to deliver early, accessible care.

**Synthesis**

The wage-growth message ran coherently across both streams: the media releases provided the statistical foundation from ABS labour force and wage price data, while the question time contribution translated those figures into a political argument about the government's legislative record and the opposition's threat to wage standards. The health announcements, though outside the employment portfolio's core domain, reinforced the Minister's constituency presence in southern Adelaide.