Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

The honourable senator knows that that is a very old, hoary argument that has no substance to it whatsoever. What the honourable senator knows is that, at the end of the day, people judge us on what is in their pay packet as a result of 10 years of the Howard government in comparison with what they got under 13 years of the Hawke-Keating government when the ACTU had its feet under the cabinet table and the Hawke-Keating government was able to deliver about a 1.2 per cent increase for the battling workers of this country. We have presided over an economic scenario where their wages have gone up above inflation—and, what is more, interest rates have been kept low so that, when they have had to borrow for a house, a car or something else, they have been able to do so on a sustainable basis.