Stuart Henry (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the greatest Prime Minister in Australian history.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The member for Hasluck will come to his question.

Stuart Henry (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the Prime Minister aware of any recent studies into the importance of a modern workplace relations system to the Australian economy.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! There is far too much noise. The member for Hasluck will ask his question again.

Stuart Henry (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the greatest Prime Minister in Australian history.

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

Order! The member for Hasluck will come to his question.

Stuart Henry (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the Prime Minister aware of any recent studies into the importance—

Duncan Kerr (Denison, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The standing orders clearly prohibit ironical statements.

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

I think the member for Denison is well aware that I have asked the member for Hasluck to come straight to his question. I will give the member for Hasluck one more chance to ask his question.

Stuart Henry (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware of any recent studies into the importance of a modern workplace relations system to the Australian economy? Do these studies draw conclusions on the effect of re-regulating the workplace?

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

In reply to the greatest member the electorate of Hasluck has ever had, can I say that my attention has been drawn to a report released by Econtech last Friday—an examination by Econtech commissioned by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. What that report found was that if the Australian workplace were re-regulated there would be over 300,000 jobs lost and interest rates would rise by 1.4 per cent. This was carried out by an organisation described on 23 May 2007 by the shadow Assistant Treasurer as being an organisation run by a ‘respected consultant’. In other words, it is somebody who is looking at these things from an objective point of view. What Econtech found was that Labor’s policy would put upward pressure on interest rates and it would cost jobs. This is the opinion of an independent economist as well as being, of course, the opinion of the government and the opinion of many industry organisations.

Right at the moment the Australian Industry Group is conducting its annual gathering here in Parliament House. That particular organisation is not contributing financially to the campaign of concern being waged by other business groups about the implications of rolling back workplace relations reform. But yesterday on Channel 10’s Sunday program Heather Ridout, the executive director of the Australian Industry Group, said that if you went back to the bad old days of a union-run IR system it would cost jobs and put upward pressure on interest rates. She described Labor’s policy as ‘risky economics that would put upward pressure on inflation and interest rates’.

We have the phenomenon where the Leader of the Opposition is pretending that his economic policy is the same as the government’s. He said on Thursday that there was not a sliver of difference between the government and the opposition on fiscal policy. The Leader of the Opposition wants to have it both ways. He wants now to pretend that he is no different from me on economic policy yet, when I was leading a government that was building the economic prosperity we now have, the Leader of the Opposition and his mates in the Labor Party were doing their level best to stop us implementing our policies. Now that we have paid off that $96 billion of debt, now that we have got a healthy budget surplus, now that we have got a strong fiscal position, the Leader of the Opposition wants to be identified with it, almost as if it were his own. Yet the truth is that he tried to stop us bringing it about. What is more, if he ever got the opportunity he would be neither experienced enough nor strong enough to make certain that the good economic conditions this government has created would be preserved. He would do the bidding of the trade union movement and he would do the bidding of the six Labor premiers.

The Leader of the Opposition cannot have it both ways. He cannot pretend that he is the same as me on economic policy when in the past he has tried to stop every step that we have taken in order to bring about today’s strong economic conditions. A Labor government rolling back industrial relations would be a risk to the prosperity of the Australian economy, it would put upward pressure on inflation and, through that, interest rates and it would break the wonderful cycle of low unemployment that this country has now enjoyed for many years under this government.