Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Long experience in this place has told me not to rely on an assertion or an allegation from a member of the Labor Party, and I do not accept whatever proposition or allegation that he puts forward. If he legitimately believes that an agreement has been entered into which undercuts the Australian fair pay and conditions standards, he could report that. But, of course, he does not decide to do that.

Employees in Australia at the moment are in the strongest position they have been in for 30 years because we have had 1.7 million new jobs. They have the highest wages that we have ever had in Australian history, because under this government wages have gone up by 16 per cent. The only thing that could represent a threat to either your job or a wage increase in Australia would be the re-election of the Labor Party. The Labor Party loved the unemployed so much that it created hundreds of thousands of new ones! I say to people: in a growing economy with a better industrial relations system, their opportunities will be much greater.

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