Ms WELLS (Lilley-Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Sport) (14:47): I thank the member for Cunningham for her question and for her relentless advocacy to lift the standard of aged care in her community. The Albanese government knows that strong sustainable wage growth is a solution to cost-of-living challenges, not part of the problem. That is why, unlike the opposition, we backed aged-care workers in their submission to the Fair Work Commission for a pay rise and, unlike the opposition, we then delivered on that promise. We delivered a 15 per cent increase to the award wage minimums for 250,000 aged-care workers across Australia, an 196 a week or more than 141 a week or 10,000 a year under the Albanese government; they will now also get a tax cut of $1,679 from 1 July thanks to Labor's tax cuts. That's almost double what they would have gotten from the coalition. Australian taxpayers don't want the coalition's cost-of-living confusion. They want more reform of aged care.
