Mr BEAZLEY (Leader of the Opposition) (2:07 PM) —I know the Prime Minister has ignored the plight of the Boeing workers. Let me try another question on him. Does the Prime Minister recall saying to John Laws on 23 January 1996 that he would ‘guarantee people would not be worse off—it is an explicit, rock-solid, ironclad guarantee’? Prime Minister, is it not the case that on the John Laws program today the following exchange took place:

If the Prime Minister was able to give a guarantee in 1996 that no individual Australian would be worse off, why can’t the Prime Minister give that same guarantee today?

Mr HOWARD (Prime Minister) —As I have said before, my best guarantee is my record.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mr HOWARD —The Leader of the Opposition and those who sit behind him point furiously in the direction of a number of Australians who are with us today. They have shared, as all other Australians have shared, in the record prosperity of the last 9½ years. I remember 1995 and so do many workers in Australia remember 1995. They remember the 11 per cent unemployment that the Leader of the Opposition gave us, they remember the $10½ billion deficit that they left.

Opposition members interjecting—

The SPEAKER —Order!

Mr HOWARD —And they know and they remember—

Mr Beazley interjecting—

The SPEAKER —Order! The Leader of the Opposition has asked his question.

Mr HOWARD —that over the last 9½ years we have achieved a fantastic quadrella.

Mr Beazley —Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The question explicitly asked for a guarantee and why there is not one now.

The SPEAKER —There is no point of order.

Mr Beazley —What does he have to say about that?

The SPEAKER —The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat.

Mr HOWARD —I am giving the best guarantee of all: performance. This government has performed. This government has presided over an increase of 14 per cent in real terms in the wages of Australian workers. What did the Hawke and Keating governments give us? A miserable two per cent in 13 years. We have the lowest unemployment level in 30 years. We have just presided over a massive reduction in personal income tax, despite the best efforts of the Leader of the Opposition to block tax cuts.

Honourable members interjecting—

The SPEAKER —Order! There is far too much noise.

Mr HOWARD —I wonder whether he told our visitors in the gallery today that he spent the last three months running around Australia trying to block income tax cuts.

Mr Swan interjecting—

The SPEAKER —Order! The member for Lilley!

Mr HOWARD —The reality is that the workers of Australia, in financial terms, have been better served by a Liberal government than they were ever served by a Labor government.

Mr Swan interjecting—

The SPEAKER —Order! The member for Lilley is warned!

Mr Beazley interjecting—

Mr HOWARD —And the greater the volume of interjections from the Leader of the Opposition, the more persuaded I am that he knows—and we know he knows—that, when it comes to a comparison of the record of this government and the record of previous governments, the Howard government is the best friend the workers of Australia have ever had.