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

The member for Watson asks effectively: can I give a guarantee that all abuses are being reported? No, I can’t—nobody can—anymore than I can give a guarantee that a law we pass or a law any government passes is fully implemented and anymore than a minister in a New South Wales or any government can give a guarantee that every law in that state is fully obeyed and every abuse is reported. Of course I cannot.

What I can do is adopt a common-sense approach to this issue. I am glad that the member for Watson asked me that question because this morning in his doorstop he said in relation to 457s: ‘You can’t scrap them; you need to have a system of temporary work visas.’

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