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

I see my colleague, the member for Boothby, and he reminds me—I apologise for what I am about to say—of the South Australian Premier, because the South Australian Premier after the last budget put out a full-page advertisement extolling the virtues of his budget. They have absolutely no shame when it comes to this. Let me inform the Leader of the Opposition of two things: firstly, the ‘Barbara Bennett advertisements’, as he calls them, are legitimate information campaigns; and, secondly—not only that—they are completely in accordance with the values of the Public Service Act, as certified by none other than the Public Service Commissioner, Lynelle Briggs. I am informed that to date the information campaign in relation to the fairness test has cost in the order of $23 million. There will be further expenditure. I do not disguise that; I make no apology for it. I think the provision of legitimate information on the fairness test is justified.

If we are talking about the use of government resources to run a political campaign, I also have in my possession a circular from Mary Kelleher, the senior director of the Human Resources Branch of Queensland Health. The circular is dated 11 July 2007 and it has the heading ‘Your Rights at Work campaign’. This is on the letterhead of Queensland Health. It is not the union. What it has to say is:

The Queensland Council of Unions is coordinating the Your Rights at Work campaign on behalf of all unions. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness about the impact of the federal industrial relations laws on all workers, including those in the state system, and the need to remove the laws by removing the current federal government.

This is Queensland Health. Presumably this is legitimate. Presumably this is an information campaign. It is directly political. There is nothing in the Barbara Bennett ads that in any way attacks the Labor Party, in any way attacks the trade union movement or in fact provides other than factual information on the operation of our policies. In those circumstances, our expenditure is totally legitimate. The ads will continue.

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