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

Let me inform the House that, under the heading ‘Clean coal for the future’, a full-page ad has been taken out by the Queensland government. Given the announcement that was made by the Leader of the Opposition three days ago about the policy of a future Labor government, I look forward to his public denunciation of this advertisement of what the Queensland Premier has done. This cannot by any semblance of the imagination be justified as anything other than a blatant political advertisement. All the Queensland government are doing is announcing the expenditure of money. They are not explaining a new law. They are not telling the citizens of Queensland what their obligations are under this new law. It reads:

In an historic agreement the Queensland Government and the coal industry have announced a massive investment to ensure the future of our State’s vital coal industry, and the jobs it creates.

That is just pure political propaganda. Yet we have a deafening silence from the man who sits opposite. I look forward to the Leader of the Opposition attacking the Queensland Premier for wasting the money of the taxpayers of Queensland. This is a blatant example of the double standards of the Australian Labor Party on this issue.

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