Policy sledge at Press Club

The Australian Labor Party's National Secretary Paul Erickson is speaking at the National Press Club at the moment.

He's talking about key issues that came up at the pointy end of the election campaign — and of course, one of the biggest was wages and the cost of living.

Mr Erickson says the focus on this topic was no surprise because "Australians were facing rising interest rates, spiralling inflation and declining real wages" (and he's not holding back in his criticism of the now-Opposition).

"We campaigned consistently on the need to boost wages growth," he says.

"It was in our TV ads and we pointed out that there were plenty of things the Federal Government could do — supporting minimum wage cases, investing in TAFE and training, boosting workforce participation through cheaper child care, giving workers more job security, and investing in industries that will grow and provide employment opportunities into the future.

"The Liberals argued that Australia was already enjoying a strong recovery, but that only a returned Morrison government could secure that recovery. Yet whenever the question was the real experience of working people, the Liberals said that everything was beyond Australia's control. Anything to avoid admitting there's a role for Government, until Anthony Albanese said that he'd welcome the Fair Work Commission increasing the minimum wage to match headline inflation.

"Then the Liberals claimed that the sky would fall in. Undercutting their campaign assertions about the strength of the recovery. That wasn't just incompetent, it was incoherent."