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

I have seen that statement made by Mr Maher, and it has long been my view that leaders do not necessarily speak for workers. I find this fascinating—the automaticity! He was meant to be different. But the Labor Party instinctively thinks: ‘Workers equals unions, equals union bosses, and when union bosses speak, they speak for workers.’ I have news for the Leader of the Opposition: for the last 10 years a lot of coalminers have voted for us.

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