Our oceans are choking with plastic and other waste, yet conversations within our community are repetitive, and action needs to move at a quicker pace. Single-use plastics are everywhere. Plastic bags carry our groceries and single-use plastic bottles stack our shelves in our supermarkets despite there being clear alternatives like aluminium and glass. From the comfort of our home, images flash on our television screens of marine wildlife washing up having been tangled in or having ingested a single-use plastic item.

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance. I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this issue, as it gives those of us on this side of the chamber another opportunity to highlight the coalition government's positive plan for infrastructure. The federal government has delivered a record $100 billion national infrastructure pipeline, which includes $10 billion committed per year over the forward estimates. In the last budget the coalition government also increased support for transport infrastructure by about a third.

I rise to speak on my first address-in-reply to the Governor-General's speech. I note it was also the first speech to this chamber of the new Governor-General, His Excellency the Hon. David Hurley. I congratulate him on his appointment. He comes with a distinguished career of military service to his country—namely, as a former chief of defence forces. Of course, he will be familiar to his current role, having been a governor of New South Wales. I wish the Governor-General and his wife, Linda, well.

We've heard a lot about jobs in relation to this motion. What the senator should be taking note of is that wages have increased across the economy by 2.3 per cent in the past year. So, while the inflation rate is only 1.6 per cent, wages are going up in very real terms. As the senator should know, wages can only go up when conditions are set that way. And, with the headwinds we're facing, our economy is very well set to perform better than all others.