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

I was depicted by the Leader of the Opposition as a person interested in privilege and indifferent to the suffering of the less well-off. That was always a false charge. It was a charge made false by the employment record of this government. What other Prime Minister can turn to an unemployment level at a 33-year low? What other government can point to real wages having risen by 20.8 per cent in 13 years? What other government can point to the low levels of inflation and interest rates? What this parliament should be addressing today are those issues of the fairness of the government’s economic policies and the total inability of the Leader of the Opposition to even understand the basis of his own economic attack. I know that the Leader of the Opposition wants to talk exclusively about Kirribilli House today and I will come to Kirribilli House—

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