John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition brings us back to AWAs. I thank the Leader of the Opposition for that, because his promise to abolish AWAs is a promise that he disavowed only eight months ago. What the Australian people want to know is what happened between that interview he gave on television in October of last year and the weekend. I think he got mugged by a bit of reality, and the reality is pronounced ‘New South Wales unions’. John Robertson and his merry men said to the Leader of the Opposition, ‘Kimbo, if you don’t front up and abolish AWAs, we’re going to roll you.’ That is basically what happened. Everybody in this building knows that the Leader of the Opposition’s powerbase is the New South Wales Right and everyone knows that his moment of truth was in fact the New South Wales ALP conference. What else would explain a policy which is against the economic interests of this country? What else would explain a policy that will threaten the living standards of hundreds of thousands of Australians? Because that is what is involved here. AWAs are the preferred employment instrument of aspirational Australians. The aspirational people of this country want AWAs. The Leader of the Opposition has declared an open fronted attack on aspirational Australians. I say to the Leader of the Opposition: he has betrayed by this decision a total misunderstanding of the hopes and the aspirations of Australia’s future.

See this speech in context