John Howard
John Winston Howard (born
26 July,
1939) is an
Australian politician and is currently the
Prime Minister of Australia. He previously served as
Treasurer from 1977â€"1983 and was Leader of the
Liberal Party from 1985 until 1989. Elected again as Leader in 1995, Howard became the 25th Prime Minister of Australia after defeating incumbent
Paul Keating in the election of
2 March,
1996. His government has been subsequently re-elected in the elections of
1998,
2001 and
2004, making Howard the longest serving Prime Minister since
Sir Robert Menzies. After his victory in 2004, his government gained control of both houses of the
Parliament from July 2005.
Howard grew up in
Earlwood, a suburb of
Sydney, where he attended Earlwood Public School. He was given the middle name Winston in honour of the
British statesman Winston Churchill. His father, Lyell Howard and his paternal grandfather, Walter Howard, were both veterans of the
First AIF in
World War I. They later ran a
petrol station and mechanical workshop in
Dulwich Hill, where John Howard worked as a boy. They also controlled significant land interests in Papua New Guinea which had been granted to his family as a result of service in World War II. Lyell Howard died during John's teenage years, leaving his mother to take care of John (or "Jack" as he was known in the family) and his three brothers.
John Howard suffered from a
hearing impairment in his youth,
and this has left him with a slight speech impediment, something that he shares with namesake
Winston Churchill.
John undertook his secondary education at the publicly funded
Canterbury Boys' High School, a state school. In his final year at the school he took part in a radio show hosted by
Jack Davey,
Give It a Go broadcast on the commercial radio station,
2GB. A recording of the show survives
[ | publisher=australianpolitics.com | date=2002-06-09 | accessdate=2006-07-08}}] and in it Howard demonstrates an early ability to think quickly on his feet trading unscripted humour with the experienced compere and delighting the audience. After gaining his Leaving Certificate, he studied law at the
University of Sydney. Howard joined the
Liberal Party in
1957.
 |
John Howard as "boy Treasurer" in the Fraser government, 1977 |
Howard practised for some years as a
solicitor and simultaneously held office in the
New South Wales Liberal Party on the State Executive and as President of the
Young Liberals (1962 -64)
, the party youth organisation.
In 1967 he was endorsed as candidate for the suburban state seat of
Drummoyne which at the time was held by the
ALP. Howard's mother sold the family home in Earlwood and took up residence with him in a house within the electorate. At the election in February 1968, Howard was defeated by the ALP candidate although the incumbent state Liberal government was returned to office for a second term.
Howard continued living at home until
1971 when he married fellow Liberal Party member
Janette Parker, with whom he has three children. Although Janette has maintained a low profile during her husband's prime ministership — in part due to health problems — she is widely seen as having a major influence on his decision making.
Howard's next attempt to enter parliament was at a Federal level and was successful. He was elected to the
House of Representatives as the Member of Parliament for the Sydney suburban seat of
Bennelong at the Federal election in May
1974. When the
Fraser government came to power in December
1975, Howard was appointed Minister for Business and Consumer Affairs, and in December
1977, he was appointed
Treasurer at the age of 38 and he became known as "the boy Treasurer". In April
1982, he was elected Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party.
During his period as Treasurer, Howard became a staunch adherent of
Thatcherism (usually known as "
economic rationalism" in Australia). Like Thatcher, he embraced the fiscal policies of
neoliberalism without the more "
libertarian" perspectives of the Chicago school on social issues. He favoured cuts to personal income tax and business tax, lower government spending, the dismantling of the centralised wage-fixing system, the abolition of compulsory
trade unionism and the
privatization of government-owned enterprises, views that have dominated his subsequent career. He became frustrated with the more moderate and pragmatic
Fraser, who would not embark on these steps. In
1982, Howard nearly resigned in protest at
Fraser's big-spending pre-election budget. After the
1983, defeat of the
Fraser Government, Howard was attacked by the incoming
Hawke government for allegedly lying to Parliament about the size of the budget deficit left by the outgoing Fraser government.
Following Fraser's resignation, Howard contested the Liberal leadership, but was defeated by
Andrew Peacock. He remained Deputy Leader and became Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Peacock was defeated by Hawke at the
1984 election and although he had lost by less than most commentators expected, Peacock began to worry that Howard was planning to challenge for the leadership. In May
1985, he tried to remove Howard from the Deputy Leadership position, expecting him to challenge for the Leadership. The plan backfired when Howard stood again for the deputy's position, and won. This put Peacock in an untenable position and he resigned, leaving Howard to take the leadership unopposed.
Howard said that "the times will suit me." In addition to his economic views, he became known as a strong social conservative, supporting the
nuclear family against the so-called "permissive society", and was also sceptical of the promotion of
multiculturalism at the expense of a shared national identity. Howard is strongly opposed to
gay marriage, or recognising "watered down" same sex
civil unions.
During
1985 and
1986, with unemployment rising and the economy stagnant, Howard appeared to be making ground on the government. However, Howard's chances of winning the
1987 election were destroyed when the arch-conservative Premier of
Queensland, Sir
Joh Bjelke-Petersen, launched a populist "
Joh for Canberra" campaign, temporarily splitting and discrediting the conservative forces. Hawke won the
1987 election comfortably.
In
1988, Howard's position was weakened by controversy following a speech in which he claimed that the rate of
Asian immigration into Australia was too high. In May
1989, Peacock launched a surprise leadership coup against Howard. After a brief stint on the
backbench, Howard returned to the
Coalition front bench, but his leadership career seemed to be over, particularly when Peacock lost the
1990 election and the Liberals turned to a new, younger leader, Dr
John Hewson. Howard himself compared the possibility of a political comeback to "
Lazarus with a
triple bypass".
Howard was an enthusiastic supporter of Hewson's economic program, with a
Goods and Services Tax (GST) as its centrepiece. When Hewson lost the "unloseable"
1993 election to
Paul Keating, Howard was again passed over for the leadership, which went to
Alexander Downer. Downer failed to dent Keating's dominance and in January
1995 he resigned as leader. The party's Deputy Leader,
Peter Costello was unwilling to step up to the leadership, and Howard became leader for the second time.
As Opposition Leader, Howard adopted a more pragmatic position than he had done during his first term in the leadership. He repudiated his earlier statements against
Medicare and in favour of a GST. In a "small target" strategy, he attacked the "arrogance" and the "elitist" nature of Keating's "big picture" politics - issues like foreign relations with Asia, Australian republicanism, multiculturalism and reconciliation with
indigenous Australians - which, Howard believed, were irrelevant to ordinary voters.
The 1996 election campaign
With the electorate still suffering from reform fatigue, a recession, and then record interest rate repayments, Howard won over many traditional Labor voters, sometimes called the "Howard battlers" (roughly equivalent to the American
Reagan Democrats), and scored a sweeping victory at the
1996 elections over Keating to become Prime Minister of Australia at the age of 56.
In the lead up to the
1996 election,
Pauline Hanson, the Liberal candidate for
Oxley in Queensland was disendorsed because of comments she made to
The Queensland Times.Howard was slow to express views on Hanson; his initial public reaction was to comment that he thought that it good that the years of "
political correctness" were finally over. Howard's lukewarm response was variously interpreted as either indicating tacit support for the sentiments, or as a disingenuous attempt to harness their popularity among certain segments of the electorate.Hanson was elected as an independent member and used her first speech to Parliament to attack multiculturalism and reconciliation and allege that "we are in danger of being swamped by Asians"
. She later formed
Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party.
First term: 1996–1998
 |
John Howard in the United States in 1997 |
Howard and his cabinet immediately announced the previous government had left behind a "budget black hole" that necessitated considerable reduction in almost all areas of government expenditure. Training and education programs developed under the Keating government were scrapped, funding for indigenous bodies was reduced, and a system of "
work for the dole" requiring social security seekers to engage in work was introduced. Prudent economic management remained the government's strongest claim throughout its term, and a prolonged period of economic growth (which Keating claimed was simply the payoff from his earlier reforms), combined with strong budget surpluses, remain an essential element in its popularity.
In
1996, Australia was stunned when 35 people were killed by
Martin Bryant in the
Port Arthur massacre. Howard responded by compelling the
state governments to outlaw the ownership of
semi-automatic rifles,
semi-automatic shotguns and
pump-action shotguns. The ban and an accompanying 'gun buy-back scheme' was popular with the general population but not with
predominantly Coalition-voting gun owners.
The Howard government did not have a majority in the
Senate, instead facing a situation where legislation had to be negotiated past either the
Australian Democrats or the
Greens. The Senate blocked or delayed much of the Government's legislation, including the partial privatisation of the government-owned telecommunications company,
Telstra; the modification of
industrial relations laws to promulgate individual contracts; increases in university fees; large funding cuts in the
1996 and
1997 budgets; a 30% private
health insurance rebate; and the extinguishment of
native title on
pastoral leases (following the
High Court's
Wik decision).
Howard had come to office promising to improve standards of integrity among ministers and politicians, introducing a strict 'Code of Ministerial Conduct' at the start of his term. The strictness of his code backfired when a succession of seven of his ministers (
Jim Short,
Geoff Prosser,
John Sharp,
David Jull,
Brian Gibson,
Bob Woods and
Peter McGauran) were required to resign following breaches of the code, concerning a variety of 'travel rorts' (misuse of the ministerial travel allowance) and conflicts of interest between ministerial responsibilities and share ownership. Prosser had attempted to use his ministerial office to further his own business interests. Another two ministers (
John Moore and
Warwick Parer) were discovered to have breached the code, but at that point Howard opted to ignore it, rather than lose more of his front bench.
The 1998 election campaign
The
1998 election campaign was dominated by two issues. One was reform of the tax system, including the introduction of a broad based
goods and services tax (a broad-based
value-added tax), which Howard had several years earlier said he would "never, ever" introduce; the other was
One Nation.
At the October 1998 election, the Liberal-National Coalition, suffered a large swing, largely driven by a scare campaign against the Goods and Services Tax. Labor leader
Kim Beazley won 51% of the national
two-party preferred vote, but the Liberals ran an effective marginal electorate
campaign and were returned with a comfortable majority in parliament.
Although One Nation had previously surprised commentators with a resounding performance in the
Queensland state election, its national campaign was poorly administered and One Nation failed to win any House of Representatives seats. An electoral redistribution had rendered Pauline Hanson's seat of Oxley unwinnable. She stood in neighbouring electorate
Blair but was defeated.
Second term: 1998–2001
Despite Howard's essentially domestic focus, external issues intruded significantly into Howard's second term when the people of
East Timor voted for independence in a
United Nations sponsored referendum.
Indonesian militia, covertly backed by Indonesian troops, began a brutal campaign of repression. After enormous public pressure, Howard broke with the previous bi-partisan policy of unquestioning support for Indonesia and Australia contributed a significant peacekeeping/policing force to protect the inhabitants against pro-Indonesian militias, attracting praise domestically and in several countries, but angering some Indonesians and
Islamists.
The other major issue during Howard's second term was the implementation of the GST, replacing a range of taxes on specific goods with a flat rate on almost all goods and services. All GST revenue is distributed to the states. This was intended to give the States responsibility for their own finances and end the annual funding squabble between the States and the Federal Government. The Federal Government continues to determine the share of GST revenue received by each state.
Howard was only able to pass the GST legislation through the Senate after making a deal with
Australian Democrats' leader Senator
Meg Lees to exclude a number of items from the GST, most notably food. This increased the complexity of the GST, which had already increased the frequency and detail of reporting required by small businesses.
As a partial offset for the GST, a $7,000 "first home buyers grant" was introduced in
2000.
The grant was paid at settlement, and Australian banks chose to count it towards a buyer's 10% deposit, increasing the borrowing limit of applicants by $70,000 and feeding a housing boom already sparked by world-wide low interest rates.
Most of the resentment for the GST fell on the Democrats, but the Howard government was trailing in the polls in
2001. The government lost a by-election in the normally safe electorate of
Ryan in
Queensland, and Labor governments were elected in all the states and territories (except
South Australia, which fell to Labor in 2002). In response to the declining position at this time, a number of policy changes were made, including the abandonment of petrol
excise indexation and increased government benefits to self-funded retirees.
The 2001 election campaign
A major change in Howard's political fortunes occurred in August and September
2001, when the government refused permission for the Norwegian freighter
MV Tampa, carrying a group of asylum seekers picked up in international waters, to enter Australian waters. Howard ordered the ship be boarded by
Australian special forces and spoke strongly of the need for Australia to 'decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come'. This brought censure from the government of Norway
at the
United Nations as failure to meet obligations to distressed mariners under international law. The
11 September terrorist attacks further increased hostility towards asylum-seekers fleeing
Islamic countries.
The government introduced tough "border protection" legislation.
Kim Beazley and the Labor opposition found themselves in a difficult political position. An electorally significant fraction of the ALP's working-class voters backed the Howard line on asylum-seekers, while the party's middle-class supporters were overwhelmingly opposed to it.
Wedged between the two camps, Beazley offered half-hearted support to Howard's legislation, infuriating the middle class without winning back any of the anti-immigration vote from Howard.
At the
November 2001 elections the Coalition was re-elected, with a larger majority than in 1998.
Third term: 2001–2004
In the two years after the
2001 election the Howard government continued its tough line on national security and "border protection" issues, while seeking to further its agenda of conservative social policies and pro-business economic reforms. Despite its victory in
2001, the government still did not have a Senate majority, and its ability to pass planned legislation was restricted.
Howard's reputation was damaged in what became known as the
children overboard affair, when it was demonstrated that one of his claims during the asylum-seeker debate, that asylum-seekers had "thrown their children overboard" in order to force the government to allow them to land in Australia, was untrue and that he had most likely been aware of this during the election campaign. Howard also faced a difficult issue in the allegations that Howard's choice as
Governor General, Dr
Peter Hollingworth, in his previous job as
Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, had refused to investigate Anglican priests accused of
paedophilia in various churches: eventually Hollingworth was forced to resign the governor-generalship amidst a storm of controversy that threatened to damage the credibility of his office.
So long as the issue of national security was prominent in the minds of voters and the Australian economy remained strong, Howard retained a clear political advantage over his opponents. Throughout
2002 and
2003 he kept his lead in the opinion polls over the then Labor leader,
Simon Crean. Following the October
2002 Bali bombing, Howard placed a renewed emphasis on his government's approach to national security.
In March
2003, Howard joined the
United Kingdom in sending troops and naval units to support the
United States in the
invasion of Iraq and the removal of
Saddam Hussein from power. Howard spoke strongly about the need to rid Iraq of the
weapons of mass destruction, which he said he had evidence that Saddam's regime possessed.
Australian opinion was deeply divided on the war and large public protests against the war occurred.
Several senior figures from the Liberal party, including
John Valder, a former president of the Liberal Party, and Howard's former friend and colleague,
former Opposition Leader
John Hewson and former Prime Minister
Malcolm Fraser publicly criticised Howard over Iraq. John Valder's criticism was particularly strong, claiming that Howard should be tried and punished as a
war criminal.
Howard's credibility and due diligence was questioned when no weapons of mass destruction were discovered in Iraq.
On
Anzac Day 2004, Howard made a surprise visit to Australian defence personnel in Iraq.This came amid a bitter debate in Australia over the war following opposition leader
Mark Latham's promise to return Australian troops by
Christmas. Howard portrayed Latham as a threat to the
U.S.-Australia alliance. After the 2004 federal election, it was revealed that Latham believed the
ANZUS alliance was a legacy of the
White Australia Policy.
The
2004–
05 budget increased family payments and tax cuts for middle income earners, and contributed to a recovery by the government in the opinion polls.
In August 2004, Howard's proposed amendment to the Marriage Act was passed with the support of the
Australian Labor Party, although several
Labor Left MPs had expressed their opposition to the amendment, including the
Premier of Western Australia Dr
Geoff Gallop. The Greens and Democrats opposed the amendment.
The 2004 election campaign
On
29 August 2004, Howard called an election for
9 October. The Labor opposition, after the resignation of
Simon Crean and the election of
Mark Latham as leader in December
2003, had established a lead in some opinion polls by March
2004, and the government entered the
election campaign behind Labor in all the published national opinion polls. Howard himself still had a large lead over Latham as preferred Prime Minister in those same polls and most commentators regarded the result as being too close to call.
During the campaign, Howard strongly attacked Latham's economic record as
Mayor of
Liverpool City Council, persuading the electorate that election of a Labor government could see a rise in
interest rates. This was a significant threat, because total borrowing by home owners had risen when rates had dropped, meaning that even though rates were historically low, loan repayments were higher than at the peak of interest rates under Keating. Any significant increase in rates could be expected to hurt badly.
A notable aspect of the campaign was the absence of retaliatory "mudslinging" from the Labor Party against the various attacks on Latham's credibility, due to his rather notorious past, possibly to help promote the image of Latham as a reformed and professional man. Due to this approach they severely lost credibility in the campaign, which was compounded by Latham's publicity stunt of signing a guarantee stating that interest rates would not inflate under a Latham leadership, when it was common knowledge at the time that the interest rates increase was controlled by the Reserve Bank and unavoidable.
In the closing period of the election campaign, Howard promised a large spending program on health, education, small business and family payments with the aim of trumping Latham's policy strengths. Some economists criticised Howard for the scale of his election spending promises, saying the Thatcherite small government man of the 1980s and the 1996 budget had mutated into a pure political pragmatist, willing to spend big on 'middle class welfare' to win votes.
The election resulted in an increased Coalition majority in the House of Representatives and also a government majority in the Senate, the first government majority in that chamber since the
1977 election. The strength of the Australian economy under Howard's leadership may have helped him to retain the "battler" vote which, combined with his strong conservative base, gave the Coalition a comfortable election victory of 52.74% of the vote on a two party preferred basis against Labor's result of 47.26%.
Howard's social conservatism also helped him to win vital preferences from the socially conservative party
Family First.
Fourth term: 2004–present
On
21 December 2004 Howard became Australia's second-longest serving Prime Minister, having led the government against three Labor opposition leaders, Beazley, Crean and Latham.
The Government response to the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was widely acclaimed in Australia and abroad, including the Opposition shadow foreign affairs spokesperson,
Kevin Rudd, who said that an
Australian Labor Party government could not have done more.
On 1 July 2005 the new Senate came into effect, giving the Government control of both houses. This is the first Australian government since the days of the Fraser government that is able to pass any legislation it wishes, without having to first gain the approval of another party or hold a
double dissolution election.
Legislation which had previously been blocked and has now been passed includes:
*Full
privatisation of the 51.8% government-owned telecommunications company
Telstra;
*
Industrial relations reforms;
*
Voluntary Student Unionism which removed compulsory union fees at universities.
Overruled Legislation:
*ACT Civil Unions Act, on the grounds that the same-sex civil unions undermined the Marriage Act.
Other legislation which had previously been blocked in the Senate includes:
*Revising media ownership laws so as to remove restrictions on media companies having control over multiple different media.
In 2005, Howard announced fundamental and wide-ranging
changes to industrial relations laws which have since been the subject of a national campaign by the union movement and state Labor governments.
Despite the coalition's majority in the Senate, a number of the proposed laws were in doubt, due to the opposition that has been voiced by Queensland National Party Senator
Barnaby Joyce who had threatened to vote against the sale of Telstra. Joyce raised concerns in relation to the industrial relations announcements but eventually supported.
On February 22, 2005 Howard announced that Australia would increase its military commitment to Iraq
with an additional 450 troops, when he had anticipated that no such increases would occur.
On April 14, another firm pre-election assurance was broken when it was announced that the Medicare safety net policy presented to the electorate prior to the election, and statements by the Health Minister
Tony Abbott that the policy was "an absolutely rock solid, iron-clad commitment", would now be adjusted to provide fewer benefits.
In October 2005, the
Volcker Inquiry into the
United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme revealed that Australian company
AWB Ltd had paid the single largest illicit "kickback" to the Iraq regime. Howard, resisting calls for a Royal Commission, subsequently established a Commission of Inquiry under Terence Cole QC to determine if Australian companies had broken the law.
Howard rejected criticisms that the Inquiry Terms of Reference were too narrow (i.e. did not permit adequate investigation into the role played by Government Ministers and their delegates)
.
As of March 2, 2006, Howard has been in office 10 years. In this time his popularity has been seemingly undented. His polling results, though showing slight ups and downs, remain steadily over 50% and higher. Though there has been speculation over his future, generally the Australian public believe Howard to be doing a good job. This is summed up in a frequently used quote of Howard's during question time, "My proof is in my record. This has seen Australia with low inflation, low interest rates, low unemployment, higher wages and a total elimination of government debt
(Australia now being only one of four nations that can boast this). As proof of Australia's economic credentials fostered under Howard, Australian Treasurer
Peter Costello was asked in June 2006 to be the special guest of the
G8 Finance Minister's Summit in St. Petersberg, Russia - an organisation Australia is not a part of - to advise these nations on good economic policy.
Unfinished business
Throughout the first half of 2005, the Howard government faced increasing pressure regarding the controversial
mandatory detention program. It was revealed in February that a mentally ill German citizen and Australian Resident,
Cornelia Rau had been held in detention for nine months. The government then established the closed non-judicial
Palmer Inquiry promising that the findings would be made public. In May, it was revealed that another Australian, subsequently identified as
Vivian Alvarez had been deported from Australia and that the department responsible was unable to locate her. By late May, it was revealed that an additional 200 cases of possible wrongful detention had been referred to the Palmer Inquiry.
Also at this time Howard faced backbench revolt from small numbers of his own party demanding that reforms be made.
On June 2, it was revealed that Cornelia Rau had been identified by the department as an Australian citizen 3 months prior to her final release from detention.
On June 9, Australia's longest serving detainee,
Peter Qasim, was moved to a psychiatric hospital.
In mid 2005, John Howard and his cabinet began private discussions of new anti-terror legislation which includes modification to the
Crimes Act 1914. In particular, sections relating to
sedition are to be modified. On
14 October 2005,
Jon Stanhope (Chief Minister of the ACT) took the controversial step of publishing the confidential draft of the Federal Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005 on his website.
This action was both praised and criticised. Citing concerns about civil rights, he later refused to sign off on a revised version of the legislation, becoming the only State and Territorial leader to not sign. The House of Representatives recently passed the anti-terrorism legislation which will soon be debated in the Senate before its final implementation in December 2005.
On
2 November 2005, Howard held a press conference to announce that he had received information from police and
ASIO that indicated an imminent terrorist attack in Australia. Within a week, on
8 November, anti-terrorist raids were held across Melbourne and Sydney, with 17 suspected terrorists arrested, including
Abdul Nacer Benbrika. These raids, according to Howard, demonstrated the need for his Anti-Terrorism Bill. According to the Greens and Democrats, the raids demonstrate that no further legislation is needed as even the current legislation was sufficient to allow ASIO and the AFP to act in some cases. Critics have also said that the press conference was held on the same day as the
changes to industrial relations laws were introduced to Parliament, even though much of the intelligence was not new, suggesting it was an attempt to divert attention away from the IR law changes.
On Tuesday
15 November protest rallies were held around the country, in opposition to the Howard government's planned changes to industrial relations laws. Approximately 560,000 people turned out to the protests, largely organised by various unions and concerned community organisations with the help of Labor and the Greens. These laws were passed without substantial change.
For as long as the party wants me or two terms in office?
Howard has recently come under fire from both sides of the
Liberal Party for an alleged deal struck with
Peter Costello in 1994 with
Ian McLachlan present, that if the Liberal party were to win the next election, Howard would serve one and a half terms of office and then allow Costello to take over. Some Liberal MPs are calling for Howard to announce his intentions for the
2007 federal election as soon as possible as Labor are currently in an election winning position, possibly due to recent changes to
Australian society such as federal IR reform. There are internal fears that if the transition were to be left too late, it would become very hard for the
Liberal Party to win office again.
Kim Beazley has stated Howard should be held accountable for his
WorkChoices changes at the
2007 election, not Costello. Howard continues to deny any deal was made, yet Costello and McLachlan insists there was. There have been calls for Costello to either challenge, or quit, however the Prime Minister has stated that Costello will remain in his roles, and a few weeks later stated that he will remain to contest the 2007/2008 election.Should he win the 2007 election, John Howard will be the second longest serving prime minster, after Sir Robert Menzies, who served 7 consecutive terms in office.
While Howard was on a trip to Ireland, Canada and the United States in May 2006, there was speculation in the Australian media that the trip was a "farewell tour", signalling an intention by the Prime Minister to retire - possibly in December. However, both during the trip and afterwards Howard indicated his intention to continue in his present capacity.
In July 2006, as part of a redistribution of
New South Wales electoral divisions, a proposal was made to change the boundaries of Howard's electorate of
Bennelong on Sydney's
Lower North Shore.. It has been suggested that these changes may make
Bennelong one of the most marginal seats in the state with only a 3% majority
, however these figures have been disputed by political commentators such as
Malcolm Mackerras , and also
Shane Easson of the NSW
Labor Party , who argue that the impact of the changes will be minimal.
At the end of July, Howard declared that he would lead the Liberal Party into the next general election, as Peter Costello-widely seen as a potential successor to Howard-declared that he would not be seeking the top position in the Liberal Party while Howard was standing as its leader. [
1]
In January 2001 Howard was granted a
Centenary Medal.
Both Howard as Prime Minister of Australia and
Helen Clark as Prime Minister of
New Zealand were awarded the
Star of the Solomon Islands in 2005 for their respective roles in restoring law and order in the Solomon Islands.
Publications
*
*
*
;Websites
;Notes
*
Prime Minister of Australia: John Howard Prime Minister's official website
*
Australia's Prime Ministers: John Howard National Archives of Australia
*
John Howard's maiden speech to parliament*
Official Liberal Party website*
John Hewson Criticises Howard Iraq Policy australianpolitics.com
*
John Howard addresses a joint session of parliament in Canada, the first Australian Prime Minister to do so since
John Curtin in 1944.
*
John Howard implements unpopular policies and makes them popular.*
Philip Bowring: Howard's end?*
List of national leaders*
First Howard Ministry*
Second Howard Ministry*
Third Howard Ministry*
Fourth Howard Ministry{{Persondata
NAME=Howard, John Winston | ALTERNATIVE NAMES= | SHORT DESCRIPTION=Prime Minister of Australia | DATE OF BIRTH=26 July 1939 | PLACE OF BIRTH=Sydney, Australia | DATE OF DEATH= | PLACE OF DEATH=
|
