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

As I was saying, what was ringing in my ears—and as I remember correctly and I think I heard it correctly, the member for Perth asked me about my interview on Meet the Presswas what Greg Combet’s ad said was that the workers at the Cowra Abattoir had been unfairly treated as a result of the Work Choices legislation. What was found by the Office of Workplace Services was that the firm was losing money because of, inter alia, the drought; therefore, it had no alternative but to let staff go. I remind the Leader of the Opposition and everybody who sits behind him that, back in the early 1990s, many firms in Australia were going broke and those opposite had a very highly regulated industrial relations system.

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