Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the launch of the coalition’s industrial relations election policy in September 2004 when, in response to a question about the government reducing the number of allowable matters, he said:

... we don’t at this stage ... have proposals to do so because they’ve worked pretty well ...

Isn’t it the case that the government’s legislation which takes effect from today breaks that promise and reduces the 20 allowable matters to five so-called minimum standards which do not include overtime, penalty rates, shift allowances, leave loadings or casual loadings—those which make ordinary Australian workers capable of sustaining their mortgages? Don’t ABS statistics show that, as a consequence, an average Australian employee who works overtime is now at risk of losing $233 a month in penalty rates alone?

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

The answer I gave that the honourable gentleman has quoted was a perfectly factual response, and no promise has been broken.