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

Glowingly, the Treasurer quite properly adds. Glowingly, he spoke of the way in which we have reduced our debt, the way in which, through labour market and other reforms, we have created a first-class economy for a first-class nation in the 21st century.

The member for La Trobe asks me whether I am aware of any threats to this. There are many threats. There are some over which the Australian people have no control—threats such as international factors, like the high price of crude oil, which is leading to very painfully high petrol prices in Australia. That is amongst the things that we do not control. But we do control our domestic policy, and this government has made it clear that part of the reform process is to make sure that we maintain further changes to our labour markets.

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