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

based on false assertions. I would say to the member for Banks, by all means engage in vigorous debate, but do not be lured by the tactics committee into making false statements; otherwise, Joe de Bruyn will have a go at you as well. That is what will happen. And if Joe gets amongst some of the branches in Banks you never know what might happen, because he does not have a bad track record. I have made this remark before and I will say it again: people ask me for guarantees—my guarantee is my record. My record is of somebody who has led a government that has presided over huge increases in real wages and who has presided over the introduction of a tax and welfare system which I think, compared with the tax and welfare systems of other governments, has been far closer to the aspirations of Christian and specifically Catholic social justice than have been the programs of other governments. I am very proud of that record. I always welcome the contributions to public debate made by that very eminent, ecclesiastical figure, Cardinal George Pell, for whom I have great regard.

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