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 question asked of him yesterday about his answers to Laurie Oakes on Sunday about annual leave loadings. Has the Prime Minister seen Laurie Oakes’s column in the Bulletin magazine today where Mr Oakes also recalls his interview with the Prime Minister? Has he read what Mr Oakes has had to say? He says:

But there is no point questioning John Howard about any of this. He obfuscates.

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

Order! The leader will come to his question.

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

I want to see if he has seen this. He says:

The reason ... was to confuse the issue and stupefy both audience and interviewer. It enabled him ...

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

Order! The leader will come to his question.

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

Has he seen the point that Laurie Oakes makes? He says:

It enabled him—

that is, you—

to avoid the central issue in the debate over his Work Choices laws: that a lot of people are going to be worse off.

Prime Minister, isn’t Laurie Oakes right?

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

The answer to the first part of the question is yes. The answer to the second part of the question is that I believe Australians will be greatly better off as a result of our policies.