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

I must confess, in reply to the question asked by the honourable member, that I am at a distinct disadvantage because I do not get invited to meetings of the Labor Party’s IR task force. I am quite certain that if I were invited to meetings of the task force I would be able to inject a bit of intellectual rigour into what they are debating. And do you know what I would ask that person and also the gentleman referred to in the question asked by the Leader of the Opposition? I would ask those gentlemen: do you recall 17 per cent interest rates? Do you recall that in 1996 industrial disputes were monumentally higher?

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