Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:00): I thank Senator Gallagher for her question. The government have been proud to serve and deliver for Australians a strong economy in the lead-up into this global economic crisis, this pandemic induced crisis, that we face. The government have worked tirelessly to create more employment opportunities for more Australians and have achieved that in record levels. We acknowledge, indeed, during that time that inflationary factors, including wage factors, have been at relative lows. They have been at relative lows together, noting that the inflation factors have also been at lows. So nominal wages growth has been at lows alongside low inflation growth. But what our government managed to achieve in the run-up to the last election was growth of 1½ million extra jobs in Australia—1½ million additional jobs for Australians, giving them every opportunity— The PRESIDENT: Senator Gallagher on a point of order? Senator Gallagher: The point of order is relevance. There was no preamble— Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: I'm actually trying to hear the point of order. Senator Gallagher: It was a very direct question about wages growth. How many years have they presided over record low wages growth? The minister should be relevant to the question. The PRESIDENT: I can't instruct a minister how to answer a question, nor the terms in which he can answer it. I've allowed you to remind the minister of the question, Senator Gallagher. When the minister is talking about wages growth I would contend that it includes being able to glance across, as he just was, issues of the labour market, as long as he relates those to wages growth. I cannot instruct him how to answer a question or the terms in which to answer it, but talking about wages growth is directly relevant to the question. Senator Wong? Senator Wong: If that were the case, we would agree. But he's not, he's talking about jobs and other economic parameters. My submission is that a glancing reference doesn't then justify a range of material which is simply not relevant to the question. The PRESIDENT: In my view, Senator Wong, the minister was, to use the colloquial phrase, 'glancing across'. I heard him turn to this just around the one minute mark. So less than 15 seconds into a two-minute answer I do consider to be glancing across issues of the labour market when they're made directly relevant to the issue of wages growth. I will listen carefully and let the minister continue. Senator BIRMINGHAM: Indeed, I'm more than happy to talk about wages as well as jobs. The two are firmly connected. Real wages have increased in Australia over the past year. Wages price index growth of 1.4 per cent has outpaced inflation of 0.7 per cent. I was pointing out earlier in the answer, in addressing this, that inflation rates have been at incredible lows. With inflation low, unsurprisingly, so too are associated wages rates. But what we have done, and what has achieved the economic strength for Australia, was to achieve record jobs growth which, of course, feeds into wages—(Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Gallagher, a supplementary question?