Senator PAYNE (New South Wales—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women) (14:04): Let me be quite clear. The Governor of the Reserve Bank, Philip Lowe, has said: The strong employment growth over the past year or so has led to a pick-up in wages growth in the private sector … And he indicated that real wages grew by 0.7 per cent through the year to the June quarter—above the 20-year average of 0.6 per cent and above the rate of 0.4 per cent through the year of growth when Labor left office. The PRESIDENT: Order! I have Senator Watt on a point of order, Senator Payne. Senator Watt: Okay, she finally got there. I was going to say that relevance— Government senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! Please let me hear Senator Watt. Order on my right. Senator Watt. Senator Watt: The minister finally got there. My point of order was on relevance. The question was a comparison to when the government first came to office, and we haven't heard anything about that. The PRESIDENT: Senator Cormann, on the point of order. Senator Cormann: That was a frivolous point of order by Senator Watt. The minister was, clearly, directly relevant to the question asked—directly relevant. Senator Wong interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Wong, I will take your submission. Senator Wong: Thank you. On, I think, the leader of the government's point of order—who seems to now simply be dismissing every point of order that the opposition has—there is something in the standing orders called direct relevance. If the government doesn't want points of orders on it, perhaps their ministers could be directly relevant to the question. The PRESIDENT: On the point of order raised by Senator Watt, conceding his opening statement, I do, however, believe that the minister, by talking about wages growth, was directly relevant to the question. Again, I ask senators—I cannot instruct the minister how to answer a question. If the minister's talking about wages growth, in the context that she was, I believe that is directly relevant to the question. Senator Payne. Senator PAYNE: Thank you very much. I was saying that real wages grew by 0.7 per cent through the year to the June quarter. It was above the 20-year average of 0.6 per cent, above the rate of 0.4 per cent through the year of growth when Labor left office. Indeed, average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adults rose by 3.1 per cent over the past year, which is the strongest growth in six years. Senator Watt interjecting— Senator PAYNE: We know that the opportunity to respond to the question is somewhat limited by a pale imitation of former senator Doug Cameron sitting on the other side— The PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Payne! Senator Wong? Senator Wong: Mr President, Senator Watt—I could invite the minister to withdraw. I would make the point that this minister has a habit, when she's under pressure, of going personal. Grow up; you're the foreign minister. Grow up! A pale imitation. The PRESIDENT: Order! Senator Wong, please. I will call Senator Cormann. Senator Cormann: Senator Wong is again misleading— Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! I can't even hear Senator Cormann, which is truly spectacular given his voice and how close I am to him. Senator Cormann. Senator Cormann: Senator Wong is clearly misleading the Senate. That was a strong and very effective answer the minister gave, which was directly relevant to the question asked. Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! First of all, I'm going to rule on the point that Senator Wong made. If senators don't like banter across the chamber, they shouldn't start it by interjecting. I might say, neither the former senator referred to nor the one currently referred to, I think, took it as an insult. I will now move to Senator Farrell's final supplementary question.