Mr CREAN —My question is directed to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, yesterday you quoted from my speech at the National Press Club on 14 August 1991, so you will not mind my quoting from a press conference you gave just six days earlier when you said:

It is my opinion that we will never in my lifetime . . . go below an unemployment level of five per cent.

Prime Minister, do you stand by your statement that a five per cent unemployment rate will not be achieved in your lifetime?

Mr HOWARD —I have no reason to doubt for a moment the veracity of what I said then. Let me repeat what I have said repeatedly since I became the Prime Minister of Australia. That is, I will do all in my power to implement policies to reduce the level of unemployment in this country, but I am not going to hitch myself to a particular target as Prime Minister. I have said that repeatedly, and I repeat it again.

I want to make it very plain on behalf of the government that we are absolutely committed to policies that will bring down unemployment, but we are not going to get ourselves attached to a target. While on the subject of employment, the member for Hotham invites me, because he goes back a little—

Mr Crean —No, you went back.

Mr HOWARD —No, you went back first, so I am going to go back again. Perhaps the member for Hotham will remember giving an ABC interview on 4 February 1992 after the closure of a car plant which was located in the electorate of Hotham. He gave this interview on 4 February 1992. So in the context of the member for Hotham seeking my views on jobs, let me remind the House what the member for Hotham had to say, and it sits rather at odds with the crocodile tears he and his colleagues have been shedding in recent times about manufacturing industry in Australia. This is what he had to say:

Now, the Button car plan has done that for the automotive industry.

This is what he said to say:

It was always recognised that there were going to be job losses.

That is what he said. When he was a minister in the government, he was saying, `You've got to have job losses,' and now he is taking every little debating point he can. He said:

It was always recognised that there were going to be job losses. Whether it's closure of plants or job restructuring, there have been significant job losses in the automotive industry and that has been accepted as a necessary part of making the industry competitive.

Mr Beazley —Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order, which goes to relevance. Is it relevant for the Prime Minister to point these out in relation to the question that was asked of him and not mention the fact that that same Button car plan produced a 400 per cent increase in exports?

Mr SPEAKER —No, we are not going to debate the issue. There is no point of order. Resume your seat.

Mr HOWARD —It gets even better. On the World Today on 28 February 1991, this is what he had to say, and this is a real pearler:

I think that many in the media do not appreciate it that all tariffs did was to make us look inward. All the tariffs did was to protect local production. There was no basis upon which there was international competition to drive innovation.

The absolute core of the interview was when the interviewer said:

So you and Paul Keating are now at one on the direction of industry policy?

And he replied, `Yep.' So, can I say that over the last few days the Labor Party have been desperately trying to de-Keatingise themselves. They have been trying to get rid of the ghost and here we have the arch hypocrite of the lot because he said `Yep,' when asked, `So you and Paul Keating are now at one on the direction of industry policy?'

I do not think the workers in the car industry in South Australia take any notice of you. You promised you would not privatise the Commonwealth Bank, and you did. You promised you would not privatise Qantas, and you did. You are promising something on manufacturing industry, and they are not even listening.