Michael Ferguson (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My real question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, would you advise the House how Australian workers are benefiting from the government’s strong economic management? Prime Minister, I would like to know how this compares with the record of the previous government.

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

I thank the honourable member for Bass for his question, asked inter alia on behalf of the working men and women of that electorate. Mr Speaker, before I answer it, may I be permitted to join you in welcoming many former members of this House and another place to the gallery. I hope I can be forgiven for particularly singling out my old friend Sir James Killen. There was a time—a short time and a rather frantic time—in Australian politics when there was no more important Liberal in Australia than Sir James Killen. I welcome all of my former colleagues to this place.

The good news, the really wonderful news, is that in the last 10 years real wages in this country have risen by 16.8 per cent. The member for Bass asks me how that compares with the record of the former government. I will tell you how it compares.

Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Melbourne!

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

It is a word that Sir James Killen would be familiar with: it compares ‘magnificently’ with the performance of the former government. Over 13 years of Labor government, the real wages of Australian workers increased by a miserable 0.3 per cent—13 years of Labor equals 0.3 per cent; 10 years of the coalition equals 16.8 per cent. I can only say again, as I have said before in this place, that, when we last faced the Australian people—and I had the opportunity of addressing a rally in Western Sydney—I had no prouder boast than to say to them that, under this government, more had been done for the working men and women of this country than any Labor government had ever dreamt of. It used to be the party of the workers. It used to be the party that looked after the interests of working men and women, but when it was last in office it boasted about the fact that it had suppressed real wages. By contrast, this government has presided over higher real wages, higher levels of employment, sharply lower interest rates, lower levels of taxation and higher numbers of apprentices.

Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Melbourne is warned!

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

Since 1996, real net household wealth has risen by an average of 8.8 per cent a year. Australia’s unemployment rate has fallen from 8.2 per cent in March 1996 to 5.3 per cent now. In Australia, 1.7 million new jobs have been created under the coalition and inflation has been contained, averaging just 2½ per cent a year. The greatest obligation that any government has is to look to the interests of the average working men and women of this country. We have done it. It has been at the centre of everything that we have done as a government over the last 10 years, and these figures released today show that real wages have risen by 16.8 per cent. Let me say that again: 16.8 per cent versus a miserable 0.3 per cent in 13 years of Labor. It is the latest piece of field evidence that this government remains dedicated to the interests of the average working men and women of this country.