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

I am aware in general terms of this situation. I am aware that the company mentioned by the member for Fraser has won the contract from another company. I am also aware that the former company employed many people under an AWA—though not all of them. It is the right of an employer to decide how to manage his business. In a free enterprise society, employers do have the right, subject to the law, to manage their businesses. This proposition that the government should tell somebody who has invested their capital in starting a business how to manage it and micromanage their business for them is not a proposition that I accept. The purpose of industrial relations legislation is to set a framework, and within that framework businesses should be able to manage their own business—

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