Australians are getting “poorer” under the Albanese government as Treasurer Jim Chalmers has remained in “denial” over real wages, a senior Coalition figure has declared.
Annual wages grew 3.4 per cent in the December quarter while inflation remains elevated at 3.8 per cent, marking the first time in two years that real wages declined.
It comes as the Reserve Bank of Australia warned that real wages growth will not recover until mid-2027 while inflation is expected to peak at about 4.2 per cent this year.
Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume said Australians have been under consistent price pressures in recent years that have crippled living standards.
“When people feel that they can’t put as much in the supermarket trolley or that everything is costing more. Whether it’s their electricity bills or their grocery bills or their housing costs. Whatever it might be, there’s a good reason for that,” Ms Hume told Sky News.
“If they’re feeling poorer, it’s because they are poorer. Real wages have gone backwards under Labor.
“Jim Chalmers can deny that all he likes, but it simply isn’t true.”
Mr Taylor stressed the Opposition’s top priority was tackling inflation’s resurgence as the RBA had been forced to lift the cash rate to combat price rises.
“Our wages are not going up as fast as prices. That means our pay packets – your pay packets of hardworking Australians – can buy less,” the Opposition Leader told reporters.
“That’s real wages going backwards – when what’s in your bank account can buy less. That’s exactly what’s happening under this failed government.
“The Treasurer told us that he’d beaten inflation. Well, inflation has beaten him.”
Mr Chalmers had repeatedly noted real wages were growing under the Albanese government and were “going backwards” at the time of the 2022 election.
Even after the latest wage price index was published, the Treasurer continued to boast that “the story of (Labor’s) time in office has been real wages growth”.
“We’ve seen annual real wages growth for two years now, but with the inflation number coming in higher than we would like, in the December quarter, obviously, this has played out in the calculation of real wages,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson also attacked Mr Chalmers’ “denial” over inflation which has forced households to tighten their budgets.
“The government has a very bad track record of making sure they’re keeping inflation down,” Mr Wilson told reporters on Wednesday.
“They said the economy had turned the corner. It clearly has not.
“Jim Chalmers needs to end his denial about what’s driving inflation and eating into the incomes and household savings of Australian families.”