Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister guarantee that the Liberal Party operatives running the BCA-ACCI campaign have not had access to taxpayer funded opinion poll research?

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

The two people whom you have mentioned, namely Mr Textor and Mr Crosby, are not employees of the Liberal Party. They run—

Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr McMullan interjecting

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

No, they are not employees of the Liberal Party. The member is as tricky as his leader when it comes to the use of the English language. Neither Textor nor Crosby are employees of the Liberal Party, they run a business and they are entitled to do work for clients other than the Liberal Party just as Rod Cameron, when he ran ANOP, was entitled to do work—and he got plenty of it—for clients other than the Australian Labor Party. Let me make it very clear: the taxpayer will not be funding any campaign by the business community or any campaign by the trade union movement.