House debates Questions without Notice
Workplace Relations
Kim Beazley Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
2:48 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the question asked of him yesterday about his answers to Laurie Oakes on Sunday about annual leave loadings. Has the Prime Minister seen Laurie Oakes’s column in the Bulletin magazine today where Mr Oakes also recalls his interview with the Prime Minister? Has he read what Mr Oakes has had to say? He says:
But there is no point questioning John Howard about any of this. He obfuscates.
Kim Beazley Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
I want to see if he has seen this. He says:
The reason ... was to confuse the issue and stupefy both audience and interviewer. It enabled him ...
Kim Beazley Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
Has he seen the point that Laurie Oakes makes? He says:
It enabled him—
that is, you—
to avoid the central issue in the debate over his Work Choices laws: that a lot of people are going to be worse off.
Prime Minister, isn’t Laurie Oakes right?
John Howard Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
The answer to the first part of the question is yes. The answer to the second part of the question is that I believe Australians will be greatly better off as a result of our policies.