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

Richard Marles—that is his title; he is an official of the ACTU. In fact we would hope very strongly that a better member than Richard Marles is elected in Corio. And I know Mr Gavan O’Connor is with us in relation to that particular idea. If you want to know where Labor stands on business, just contrast the lack of any businessperson joining their council with the 100 per cent coverage by the trade union movement of the members of the parliamentary Labor Party. Labor does not seem to have any trouble getting trade unionists into this parliament—none whatsoever—but it does seem to have a great deal of trouble getting businesspeople onto their council of business advisers. That tells you where the Labor Party stands. The Labor Party does not understand business. The Labor Party does not have strong relations with business, and if the Labor Party gets elected it will not be in the interests of business but in the interests of the trade union movement that it will govern.

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