Labor is backing another pay rise for low paid workers to help with the cost of living.
We have made a submission today to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) recommending they award an economically sustainable real wage increase to Australia's award workers.
This will help around three million workers across the country, including cleaners, retail workers and early childhood educators.
Our earlier recommendations that real wages of low paid workers do not go backwards have helped secure an increase in the National Minimum Wage by around $7500 a year.
In Labor's submission filed today, we recommend that the FWC should go further and provide an economically sustainable real wage increase to Australia's award workers.
An increase in minimum and award wages should be consistent with inflation returning sustainably to the RBA's target band this year, while providing further relief to lower income workers who continue to face cost of living pressures.
This position is both economically responsible and fair. It will ensure low paid workers can get ahead as inflation continues to moderate and real wages continue to grow across the economy.
Labor's approach is in stark contrast to the Coalition who never advocated for wage increases, oversaw wage stagnation for nearly a decade, and left the country with falling real wages.
When we came to office real wages were going backwards by 3.4 per cent and had fallen for five consecutive quarters.
This was part of the Coalition's plan to keep wages low, a 'deliberate design feature' of their economic policy, which is an approach that continues under Peter Dutton.
When we came to government, inflation was higher and rising, real wages were falling and workers' living standards were going backwards.
Under Labor, inflation is low, real wages and living standards are growing again and workers are finally starting to get ahead again, but the job is not done because people are still under pressure.
The biggest risk to the progress we've made on wages and the economy is Peter Dutton.
Labor is helping Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn with strong and sustainable wages growth and tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer.
The contrast at the election couldn't be clearer: Australians getting higher wages under Labor or working longer for less under the Liberals.
Quotes attributable to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:
"During the last campaign, as I travelled around the country, I was asked if I supported a wage increase for low paid workers.
"I said, absolutely.
"The Liberal Party said this would wreck the economy.
"Since then, we've seen wages going up, inflation coming down and interest rates starting to fall.
"This campaign we will again be advocating for workers to get a pay rise to not only help them deal with the pressures of today, but to get ahead in the future.
"Only Labor has a plan to build Australia's future."
Quotes attributable to Treasurer Jim Chalmers:
"Our economic plan is all about ensuring Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn.
"Boosting wages, cutting taxes for every taxpayer and creating more jobs are a central part of our efforts to help Australians with the cost of living.
"The biggest thing standing in the way of higher wages for Australians is a Peter Dutton-led Coalition government that will raise taxes and lock in lower wages for workers.
"The choice at this election is between a Labor government which has been creating jobs, getting wages moving again, rebuilding living standards and rolling out responsible cost of living help versus a Coalition that wants Australians working longer for less.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt:
"It will be workers who will do the heavy lifting to Build Australia's Future.
"And they deserve to be paid a decent wage for doing it.
"Peter Dutton has opposed every cost-of-living measure our government has put in place and wants your wages to go backwards.
"His only plan is to cut your wages and when Peter Dutton cuts, it's you who pays."
