Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for the Public Service, Assistant Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Struggling breaths in the back seat. Panicked breaths in the front seat. Dad running an amber light that was really more like red on the way to the hospital. Only to end up spending hours with doctors and then hours more on a nebuliser. That is the reality of chronic childhood asthma.
That was my reality.
Today, asthma does not bother me the way it used to. But I still remember the fear.
And I am still thankful for the patient, kind and hard-working health services workers who got me through it. The smiles at yet another appointment. The conversation. The time taken to make me feel at ease.
So, I am here as an Assistant Minister, but also as a former childhood asthmatic who got a chance to say thanks.
Recognising the unique work of health services workers
Health services is an incredibly difficult line of work, with its own unique challenges. Many of you are here because this is your vocation. You do it for your love of serving the community. Of helping people who really need it. But that does not mean it comes without sacrifice.
Nor does it mean you should accept poor conditions in your workplace. And I know I do not have to tell the people in this room that. I think of the health services workers in my life.
My grandmother, Pat, worked in admin at Charlie Gardiner. She taught me that a bedside manner does not just stop at the bedside. That caring for others and standing up for one another matters. And it matters no matter who you are or what you do.
Those values of caring for one another are core to the health profession. They are also core to the union movement. Unions like the Health Services Union are there to care for our essential workforce. My friend and fellow Western Australian, Trish Cook was just elected to be the first ever member for Bullwinkel in Parliament.
In a seat named after legendary wartime nurse, Vivian Bullwinkel, she has herself become the tenth nurse in federal Parliament. She often says it is her career in nursing which has taught her how to speak up on behalf of others.
In fact, just last week in her first speech to Parliament, she said:
'The professions of nursing and politics both require great commitment, honesty and a great sense of wanting to help people and communities.
As a nurse-midwife, I have cared and advocated for patients when they drew their first and last breaths and everything in between.'
As health professionals you know better than most how to advocate for those in need. As unionists, you know it is not just something you can do, but something you must do if you want better outcomes for your fellow members.
Health Services Industry
Health services workers meet us all. You meet us at our weakest, our most frightened and our most desperate. You meet us at our most isolated and vulnerable. And you make us feel safe and feel supported.
That is what a good union does for its members, too. You find the instances where people feel afraid, alone and at their lowest. And you work together to find what is wrong, and help them feel better. The health services industry faces some particular challenges when it comes to workplace relations.
Gender and workplace relations
As Trish herself said about her early career in nursing:
'… women were expected to do the role of the carer for the love of it, and, of course, the wages and conditions reflected that attitude.'
Though some things have changed, nursing and other health-related roles, remain highly feminised industries. And we know these ideas still persist, and they still influence our workplace relations system.
In fact, in Parliament just a few days ago, Member for Longman Terry Young said the following on the floor of the House of Representatives:
'Men tend to be more drawn to vocations that involve maths, physical exertion like construction and trades.
'Whereas women in the main tend to be drawn to careers that involve women and care and other people. Vocations like hairdressers, nursing, social workers and the like will always be more female-dominated.'
You will be pleased to hear that these comments were responded to by Minister for Infrastructure, Catherine King, who rightly called them 'crock.'
From words to action on gender equality
And though I opened my remarks today by saying thank you, I know that thanks without action is not why you invited me here today. So, let me take you through some of the measures we are taking to improve the workplace relations system, particularly for industries like yours.
The Albanese Government has put gender equality at the heart of the workplace relations system, supporting women to earn more and keep more of what they earn.
The gender pay gap is now close to the lowest on record at 11.9 per cent. This has not happened by accident or coincidence. It is the result of a government that has made gender equality a priority.
As many of you in this room are well aware, our Government is funding pay rises for aged care and early childhood education and care workers. We are reinvigorating the bargaining system to get wages moving, particularly in feminised industries like yours.
And we are ensuring the Fair Work Commission must consider gender equality in its decisions.
We are making it easier for low-paid workers to receive pay rises by amending the Fair Work Act equal remuneration provisions. Making clear that a "male comparator" is not required. And we are banning pay secrecy clauses to improve pay transparency.
When it comes to making workplaces more family-friendly, we are strengthening access to unpaid parental leave and flexible work. From 1 July this year, the amount of Paid Parental Leave available to families increased to 24 weeks Benefiting 180,000 families a year, and giving parents an extra 2 weeks to spend with their newest family member.
The amount of Paid Parental Leave parents can take off at the same time has also increased from 2 weeks to 4 weeks. And Paid Parental Leave will continue to expand to 26 weeks by 1 July 2026.
In a huge step to help close the gender gap in retirement incomes, superannuation is now paid on government Paid Parental Leave. On the same day, our 12 per cent contribution, based on the increase in the Superannuation Guarantee took effect. Meaning this amount is now paid as a contribution to parents' nominated superannuation funds.
Parents are also benefiting from an increase in the weekly payment rate of Paid Parental Leave, increasing from $915.80 to $948.10. This is in line with the increase to the National Minimum Wage and means a total increase of $775.20 over the 24-week entitlement.
And our Government has also introduced 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave.
But we know there is more still to do.
Following our workplace relations reforms, the independent Fair Work Commission initiated its review into gender undervaluation in the award system last year. In April this year, the Commission released its interim decision, finding that there has been gender-based undervaluation in the 5 priority awards under consideration. This includes the Health Professionals and Support Services Award. As well as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services Award.
The Albanese Government has committed to working positively with the Commission to address its findings of gender undervaluation.
The fact that your industry quite literally cares should not be a bad thing.
The fact that you care should not be a bad thing.
Our Government is making sure that it is not.
Fair pay and decent conditions for award workers
The work that you do as health services workers is critical to our society. The work you do as union representatives and delegates is also important. And both of these roles are hard.
Your important role as union members makes sure that you can bargain for the wages and conditions you deserve for the work you do.
I am proud to be part of a government that backs real wage rises. From 1 July 2025, up to 2.9 million award wage workers received a 3.5 per cent wage increase, delivering a real wage increase of 1.1 per cent. Since the government was elected, the Commission has made great progress in addressing historic gender undervaluation in awards.
Aged care workers are receiving pay increases of up to 28.5 per cent, and minimum wages for pharmacists in the Pharmacy Award are being increased by 14.1 per cent. Making sure that the person over the counter gets a fair deal - whether you are there to buy Vegemite or Ventolin.
Bargaining and delegates' rights
Today I am speaking to you as the Assistant Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. I have supported the union movement my entire life.
I grew up in Freo. May Day rallies have always been part of our family diary.
And I know what it is like to see the benefits of organising and championing the voices of those in your industry. How much of a difference your advocacy makes to the lives of your most vulnerable members.
That is why I am so pleased to see the real progress our Government is making to ensure your rights as delegates in bargaining are protected. Our bargaining reforms are helping to improve outcomes for Australian workers. The Trends in Federal Enterprise Bargaining report for the March quarter 2025 has found coverage of current enterprise agreements reaching 2.67 million employees. This is the highest coverage of enterprise agreements recorded since enterprise bargaining commenced in 1991.
The report also highlights that agreements are delivering real wage increases for Australian workers. The average annualised wage increase for enterprise agreements approved in the March quarter 2025 has hit 3.8 per cent. Outpacing March's inflation figures of 2.4 per cent and outpacing economy wide wage increases. This is the sixth consecutive quarter that wages growth in enterprise agreements has outpaced inflation.
But we know that the work we are doing in government is matched by the work you do every day as delegates and union representatives. That is why our government is strengthening your rights and protections as union delegates.
Our reforms have provided delegates with explicit rights and protections under the Fair Work Act, strengthening your ability to perform your important role.
You do so much for your workplaces and union members. From helping to resolve disputes, to facilitating change, and providing information and advice to co‑workers. These contributions you make are essential to promoting transparency and accountability in employer-employee relations.
The Coalition's record on health
Australians are rightly proud of our universal health system.
Prior to the introduction of Medicare in 1984, the leading cause of bankruptcy in Australia had been unpaid hospital bills. Treatment and care from our health sector was literally sending thousands of Australians broke every single year.
Then came the health insurance system that was for everyone.
Prime Minister Bob Hawke said:
"With this historic initiative, all Australians now have a new, simpler and fairer health insurance system."
What did John Howard say the very same year about Medicare?
'… we will stab it in the guts.'
Under the previous government, Medicare faced nearly a decade of neglect and undermining. Australians watched bulk-billing rates collapse. Medicare rebates were stagnant and our healthcare system absolutely at breaking point.
The Coalition ripped $50 billion out of our public hospitals. They tried to end bulk billing for all Australians with a GP tax. They tried to charge every Australian a fee every time they went to the Emergency Department. And they tried to jack up the price of medicines.
Meanwhile, just this week our Government introduced legislation to cut the cost of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medicines to just $25.
The Coalition's six-year long freeze on the Medicare rebate ripped $8.3 billion out of Medicare.
Even the words of Anne Ruston, Shadow Minister for Health, show the contempt the Coalition have shown our healthcare system. Ten years ago, she said that Medicare was not sustainable and that the 'credit card is maxed out' on universal health care.
From Medicare to the PBS, aged care to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Australia's systems of care and support are world leading and trailblazing. Labor governments have created and championed these systems for decades. And our Albanese Labor Government will continue to build on and strengthen these institutions for the decades to come.
Australians want to know that they will get the care and support they need, when and where they need it.
Our task is crystal clear: to strengthen Medicare, protect the PBS, deliver generational reform to aged care, and secure the future of the NDIS.
Labor will ensure that these systems of care and support always put patients and people first - and we know the union movement backs us all the way on this.
In the invitation for this very event, I read the following mission statement:
'We believe fairer workplaces, lead to better healthcare for all Western Australians.'
I could not agree more, and that is why I am honoured to join you today.
Penalty rates
It would be remiss of me to leave here today without talking to a room of passionate union members about Minister Amanda Rishworth's work on penalty rates. Penalty and overtime rates for millions of workers are one step closer to protection after our Government introduced legislation last week to enshrine them in law.
This Bill will protect the penalty rates of around 2.6 million modern award-reliant workers. Relative to all employees, award-reliant employees are more likely to be women, work part time, be under the age of 35, and employed on a casual basis. For many modern award-reliant employees, penalty and overtime rates are not optional extras. They are a critical part of their take-home pay.
This is especially true in sectors like yours, where work often takes place at unsociable and irregular hours. The legislation inserts a high-level principle into the Fair Work Act that operates alongside the modern awards objective. Ensuring penalty rates and overtime cannot be rolled up into a single rate of pay where it leaves any individual employee worse off. The bargaining framework continues to be available for employers to directly negotiate with employees and their representatives. While ensuring that employees remain better off overall.
Conclusion
I began this speech with my story of childhood asthma. That is because I am grateful to each and every one of you. And our Government is here to tell you that we value the work you do every day.
It makes our society stronger and lifts us all up. Whether that is by helping a little kid learn to use their nebuliser. Or fighting for the conditions of your members.
The work you do for Australians is life-changing. Thank you.
