Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Hansard source

And then what happened to working families under the Howard government? Real wages under the Howard government went up 22 per cent, Senator Wong. That is a fact. They fell under the Hawke and Keating governments and they rose by 22 per cent under the Howard government. So much for the Labor Party being the friends of working families.

What about taxation measures? Very simply, 40 per cent of all working families during the Howard government paid no net tax. They had as much social welfare coming in as they paid out in tax. How is that for working families! The fact is that, in the history of our country, there has never been a better government for working families than the Howard government. So much for the rhetoric of the Labor government. Working families have been better served by the Howard government than by any other government in our nation’s history.