00:00Anthony Albanese is campaigning in Melbourne's East, targeting the ultra-marginal Liberal
00:07seat of Deakin.
00:08Labor wants to put wages on the agenda, trying to pick a fight with the Coalition over a
00:12rise to award and minimum wages.
00:14It says it wants the rise to be above inflation, but Anthony Albanese won't put a figure on
00:19exactly how high wages should climb.
00:21Anthony Albanese visited a childcare centre to make his case, arguing childcare workers
00:26would benefit from a boost to the award wage.
00:28Wages became a central theme of the campaign three years ago, and Labor wants to pick a
00:32new fight on the issue this time around.
00:35It argues wages should rise in an economically sustainable way and above inflation, and the
00:40Prime Minister argues that small business can accommodate the cost.
00:43Well, there are today 130,000 more small businesses.
00:49We've had around, on average, around about 25,000 small businesses register every month
00:55on our watch.
00:57That is one of the reasons why we put in the submission economically sustainable.
01:03One of the things about low-paid workers is that if you pay a local paid worker more money,
01:13it doesn't go to savings.
01:15They do spend it, because they're doing it tough.
01:17And they spend it including in their local small business.
01:21So it has an impact that's positive in the economy, including for small business.
01:26One big unknown is what sort of tariff hit might be looming from the United States.
01:30Australia's exports to the United States represent about under 5% of our goods exports.
01:38Okay, so let's have some perspective here about standing up for Australia's national
01:45interest.
01:46I know there's a lot of focus on this, but put it in perspective.
01:50Less than 5%.
01:53And what I have done, and what the Foreign Minister has done, and our Trade Minister
01:58has done, is build relations since we came to office.
02:01Labor has tried to ground its campaign in safe areas in these early days.
02:05Healthcare and support for low-paid workers.
02:08But imminent news on tariffs from the United States could reframe the campaign and prompt
02:12further questions on how Australia might respond.
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