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

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Those information ads are very effective; those information ads will continue. The fact that they are being attacked by the Leader of the Opposition, the ACTU and the Public Sector Union demonstrates just how effective they have been. The Leader of the Opposition, as we know, famously comes from the state of Queensland—might I say the great state of Queensland. I am proud of the fact that there are more Queenslanders on this side of the House than there are on the other side of the House. What is more, we intend to keep it that way. The Leader of the Opposition comes from the great state of Queensland and, never to be outdone, the good old Queensland Premier has a mate here who will be a colleague of his if the Labor Party wins the next election. While the Leader of the Opposition is up here complaining about government advertising, his colleague in Queensland has absolutely no shame about a 14-page colour booklet released in the Sunday Mail. It is great advertising for the Queensland newspaper. I do not want to knock that fine organisation. They will take business from anybody—that is fair enough—even the Queensland government. Here we have page after page, and what is the explanation?

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