What a difference five months makes

John Howard's statement to parliament on workplace relations (The Age, May 26): "While the Government is proud of its record, Australia must press ahead with economic reform if we are to prosper in the 21st century..."

"Australia's continued prosperity hinges squarely on a flexible and dynamic labour market. It is the single most important determinant of our ability to secure future productivity gains from higher skills, new technology, competition and open trade.

John Howard quoted in the Australian on June 12: "Mr Beazley and the Labor Party fail to understand the need to constantly reform and modernise the economy so we can take advantage of an increasingly competitive global marketplace and deliver jobs, improve productivity and grow wages."

August 2: interest rates up 0.25 per cent

November 8: interest rates up a further 0.25 per cent

John Howard quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald on November 14: "Labor's policy on industrial relations will, if implemented, exert upward pressure on interest rates...because what Labor is arguing for is a return to a more centralised wage fixing system.

"And if you have a centralised wage fixing system in an economy where one part of the economy is running at a faster rate of growth than another, the higher wages paid in the first part of the economy will be forced onto businesses in the other part of the economy, and those increases on them will be unsustainable and there will be consequences for wage inflation and also for unemployment."

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Last Modified: 23 Nov 2006