Treasurer: Wage rises on way

JOSH Frydenberg is promising mums and dads that wage rises are coming as the Morrison Government considers bringing forward tax relief for the nation’s 3.3 million small businesses.

The new Treasurer said he was extremely confident wage rises were on their way be- cause growth in jobs and the economy more widely were strong.

It can also be revealed the financial services regulator is set to be handed stronger powers to quell public “alarm” over the banking royal commission.

“We are going to see real wages growth. It’s about the economic policy settings we have. Tax reform is critical in this respect,” Mr Frydenberg said. “More than 1000 jobs are being created a day. As the economy continues to grow the spare capacity in the labour market is eaten away and that leads to more competition for labour and ultimately real wages growth.”

The ABS wages price data for the June quarter has wages for the public and private sector growing by 2.1 per cent, up on the record lows of 1.9 per cent toward the end of last year.

Meanwhile, Mr Frydenberg said he was appalled by the evidence coming out of the banking royal commission, particularly where customers were charged for services that were not provided.

He said regulators had questions to answer. “Why didn’t ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Com- mission) punish those responsible and prevent this type of misconduct occurring?”

Although the Government would wait for the recommendations of the royal commission, Mr Frydenberg pledged to act on a recent recommendation of another review to further strengthen regulation.

“Australians affected by financial misconduct deserve timely remediation,” he said.

“A new ASIC remediation power as recommended by the ASIC Capability Review and accepted in principle by the Government is one potential solution to ensure better and speedier consumer outcomes.

“As part of the Government response to the banking royal commission this will be one new power we will consider implementing.”