Joint with
BRENDAN O’CONNOR MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND INDUSTRY
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SCIENCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS
MEMBER FOR GORTON
and
HON TONY BURKE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MANAGER OF OPPOSITION BUSINESS
MEMBER FOR WATSON

The average full-time worker is $2,200 worse off today than they would be if wages had grown at the rate the Liberals and Nationals have forecast in their budgets.

Compared to forecasts in the 2018-19 Budget the average full-time worker is $387 worse off.

Australian workers are paying the price for this Liberal-National Government’s six years of economic incompetence.

Wages growth has been downgraded in almost every Budget and Budget update since the Liberals came to office.

Even with these downgrades the Liberals have failed their own wages growth tests 33 times.

Australian families are burdened by record debt and record low wages growth but Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg don’t have a clue what to do about it.

Further downgrades to wages growth are expected in the mid-year Budget update.

The Budget wages growth forecast of 2.75 per cent in 2019-20 is well above actual wages growth which recently slowed to 2.2 per cent.

The Budget also includes optimistic wages growth forecasts of up to 3.5 per cent despite wages growth never reaching or exceeding three per cent in the Liberals’ entire six-year period in office.

The Liberals and Nationals have presided over the worst wages growth on record.

Under this Government the Reserve Bank says weak wages growth has become the “new normal”.

The mid-year Budget update is Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg’s opportunity to admit that wages are stagnant on their watch and to present a comprehensive plan to get them moving again.