Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I will make just one last observation. Most people would say that today’s wage growth in the June quarter was a touch higher than expected at 4.1 per cent. Let me make this point about another indicator to undermine the false claims that the Labor Party made about Work Choices. One of the constant refrains that we have heard from the Labor Party was that Work Choices would drive wages down. Yet today we find that wages have increased by 4.1 per cent, even a little higher than expected. On 21 March 2006, we had the Leader of the Opposition telling Neil Mitchell that these workplace changes are about suppressing wages. He was wrong then; he is wrong now; he has been wrong for 10 years. The last thing the Australian economy could afford would be him in any position of economic responsibility.

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