Mr STEPHEN SMITH (2:58 PM) —My question is to the Prime Minister and it refers to his two denials in question time that the Spotlight AWA will not start a 2c an hour wages race to the bottom. Prime Minister, if that is the case, will you now advise those other Mount Druitt retailers, including Coles, Woolworths, Kmart, Target, Just Jeans, Best and Less, and Liquorland, not to go down the Spotlight 2c an hour wages race to the bottom?

Mr HOWARD (Prime Minister) —The only advice that I would give to those firms is the advice that I give to firms throughout Australia, and that is: take proper advantage of the wonderful economic condition created by the policies of this government. The other bit of advice I would give them is: take no notice of the pessimistic doomsayers of the Australian Labor Party. They were on about this business of driving down wages 10 years ago. Ten years on, what has happened? Wages have gone up by 16.8 per cent in real terms. The third piece of advice I would give to the businesses in Mount Druitt and to the businesses of Australia is this: if you want low wages and high unemployment, vote Labor.