Jobs & Economy Policies: What’s the Labor, Liberal and Greens Stance on Ca$h?

LABOR

• Albanese has backed a 5.1% increase to the minimum wage, bringing up wages growth to match inflation in an effort to fight cost of living pressures
• Plan to commission a White Paper on Full Employment in its first term in office. This would be informed by an Australian Jobs Summit, and will outline the steps needed to reduce unemployment and underemployment
• Guarantee that 10% of all workers on major government projects will be an apprentice, trainee or cadet
• Plan to create ‘same job, same pay’ laws to eliminate the gaps between employed and labour hire, contract and casual workers
• Introduce changes to the Fair Work Act and Fair Work Commission to address job security, including: expand the objectives of the FWA to specifically include job security, allow the FWA to set minimum standards for “employee-like” work (i.e.: gig workers), introduce a test for defining ‘casual workers’ to reduce the amount of casual jobs, limit fixed term contracts for the same role to two years
• Laws to force companies with 250+ employees to publicly report their gender pay gap publicly , and banning pay secrecy clauses in employment contracts
• Implement all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work Report
• Introduce 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave to the national employment standards
• Goal of creating 1.2 million tech jobs by 2030
• For the ALP policies on TAFE and universities, check our Education Policy Comparison

LIBERAL

• Morrison says he does not support a minimum wage increase, and that he expects real wages will not grow for another 18 months
• Create 1.3 million jobs over the next five years
• $2.4billion to provide $5000 payments to apprentices in their first two years of their training
• $3.7 billion under the National Skills Agreement to create 800,000 new training positions over the next five years
• $482 million for ‘Women’s Economic Security’, including: $18.5m over four years to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA); 20 weeks flexible parental leave; $38.6m over four years to incentivise women in trade and male-dominated industries
• $46.8m over four years into the ReBoot program, to provide training and employment opportunities to disadvantaged youth
• For the Liberal policies on TAFE and universities, check our Education Policy Comparison

GREENS

• Establishing a minimum living wage at 60% of the median wage, so no working people fall below the poverty line
• Create 45,000 new ongoing direct jobs in construction and an additional 90,000 indirect jobs in the broader economy 
• Establish an independent workplace commission to enforce labour laws
• Ensure casual and contract workers have the same protections as employed workers
• Implementing all 55 recommendations in the Respect@Work and Set the Standard reports, including the positive duty requirements
• Increase the number of women, First Nations and CALD people, and people with a disability employed in the public sector
• ‘Boost’ paid parental leave
• Close the labour regulation loopholes in migration laws and free trade deals
• For the Greens policies on TAFE and universities, check our Education Policy Comparison

LABOR

• Will keep the Coalition’s proposed Stage 3 tax cuts – expected to apply from FY23-24, this plan eliminates one tax bracket to put everyone making $45k-$200k under the same rate. See the changes outlined here
• Plan to target multinational corporations operating in Australia who don’t pay tax, or pay a very low amount of tax. Details of the policy are still TBC

LIBERAL

• Stage 3 tax cuts to apply from FY23-24 – this will eliminate one of the middle-income tax brackets, to put all $45k-$200k earners under the same rate. See the changes outlined here
• $652m over the next two years to the ATO’s Tax Avoidance Taskforce, to help them target multinational corporations who avoid paying tax in Australia

GREENS

• Create a new Corporate Super-Profits Tax (CSPT) of 40% on big corporations – this would apply to mining corporations, and non-mining corporations with $100 million turnover. The CSPT is applied to net-revenue after income tax and ‘fair’ payments to shareholders. It is projected to raise $338 billion over 10 years
• Introduce 6% wealth tax on billionaires – this applies to 122 individuals in Australia, taxed on their net wealth
• Target multinational corporations by: requiring $50m-plus companies to publish their basic tax information; and requiring the ATO to publish the result of tax disputes with companies

LABOR

• More to come

LIBERAL

• Businesses with less than $50m in turnover can access: 20% tax offsets on external employee training and investing in new technology (up to $100,000 per year)

GREENS

• Introduce low-interest loans and procurement targets for women-led businesses
• End government handouts to the billionaires and major corporations

LABOR

• $15billion in a National Reconstruction Fund. The fund will provide capital to job-creating projects in the following sectors: mining & resources; agriculture, forestry and fisheries; transport; medical science; renewables and low emission technologies; defence; and tech.
• Abolish the Registered Organisations Commission (ROC) and the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), which it says has unfairly pursued unions in the building and construction industry to the detriment of worker conditions

LIBERAL

• $120 billion ten-year infrastructure plan that includes: road and highway upgrades; the Western Sydney International Airport; public transport developments and upgrades; expanding the City Deals program, which sees all levels of government collaborate on city developments.
• $2 billion for the Regional Accelerator Program, which provides grants to businesses in 12 key regions with: supply chain resilience, exports, education infrastructure, and defence capabilities
• $2.5 billion over 10 years in the Modern Manufacturing Strategy, to support businesses in these sectors: mining & resources; food & beverage; medical products; recycling & clean energy; defence; and space

GREENS

• Establish a Manufacturing Australia Fund to help local manufacturers recover from the pandemic, expand and transition to renewable power
• $500m over five years into recycling infrastructure and programs
• Ensure the government is buying locally- and sustainably-manufactured products
• 45,000 new ongoing direct jobs in construction