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

The second charge made against the legislation was that it was going to lead to strikes and industrial chaos. We have in fact in the last three months recorded the lowest level of industrial disputes in Australia since the records were kept. The third charge made against this legislation was that it was going to drive down wages. In the six months that have gone by, real wages have continued to rise at a rate of 16.4 per cent a year. We all know what happened to real wages in the 13 years of Labor. They fell by 0.2 per cent in real terms.

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