John Howard

John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939), Australian politician and 25th Prime Minister of Australia, came to office on 11 March, 1996 and gained re-election in 1998, 2001 and 2004. He is Australia's second-longest serving Prime Minister, after Sir Robert Menzies.

Howard as Prime Minister

First term: 1996–1998

One of Howard's earliest notable actions in office occurred after the Port Arthur massacre of 1996, when he responded by persuading the state governments to effectively prohibit the ownership of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. Many of his own conservative supporters opposed these measures. A national buy-back scheme somewhat reduced the political damage which Howard might otherwise have suffered among (predominantly Coalition-voting) gun owners.

Related Topics:
Port Arthur massacre - 1996

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Howard and his cabinet immediately announced a "budget black hole" that would see a considerable reduction in all areas of government expenditure to keep the budget in surplus. 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 to remain eligible for benefits was introduced. Prudent economic management remained the government's strongest trumpeting point throughout its turn, and a prolonged period of economic growth (which Keating claimed was simply the payoff from his earlier reforms), combined with strong budget surpluses remained an essential element to its popularity.

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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).

Related Topics:
Senate - Australian Democrats - Greens - Telstra - Industrial relations - 1996 - 1997 - Health insurance - Native title - Pastoral lease - High Court - Wik

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In 1997 Howard's conservative views on drugs and his government's strong adherence to the restrictive drug regime enforced by the U.S. government led to him intervening to stop the planned trial of a heroin program in the Australian Capital Territory. The trial was strongly advocated by reformist ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell, a former pharmacist. She sought to introduce a European-style system in which heroin addicts would be licenced and supplied with medical-grade heroin and provided with safe injecting facilities. Howard's blocking of the heroin trial, which had been approved by all state Health Minsters, led to strong criticism from drug reform advocates.

Related Topics:
Heroin - Australian Capital Territory - Kate Carnell

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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. However, the strictness of his code backfired when a succession of five of his ministers (Jim Short, Geoff Prosser, John Sharp, David Jull and Peter McGauran) were required to resign following breaches of the code, mainly concerning 'travel rorts' (misuse of the ministerial travel allowance) and conflicts of interest between ministerial responsibilities and share ownership. Later, Howard was to tone down the strictness of the Code, and, perhaps as a reaction to losing so many ministers early on, would prove unwilling to require ministerial resignations for questionable conduct, leading to accusations that standards have actually dropped under his Prime Ministership.

Related Topics:
Jim Short - Geoff Prosser - John Sharp - David Jull - Peter McGauran

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After the 1996 election, Pauline Hanson, a disendorsed Liberal candidate who was elected as the independent member for Oxley in Queensland, used her first speech to Parliament to attack multiculturalism and reconciliation and allege that "this nation is in danger of being swamped by Asians". She later formed the One Nation Party. Howard was slow to criticise the views expressed by Hanson when compared with his opponents and Liberal Party colleagues, and his initial public reaction was to comment that he thought it good that the years of "political correctness" were finally over. Howard's unwillingness to confront One Nation was controversial with some, and led to criticism from some members of his own party, such as Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett. Some saw Howard's lukewarm response to Hansonism as indicating either tacit support for its sentiments (especially given his 1988 comments on Asian immigration), or a disingenous attempt to harness their popularity among certain segments of the electorate.

Related Topics:
1996 - Pauline Hanson - Oxley - One Nation Party - Political correctness - Jeff Kennett

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The 1998 election campaign was dominated by two issues. One was reform of the tax system, including a goods and services tax (a broad-based value-added tax); the other was the rise of One Nation. The environmental movement also ran a high-profile campaign against the government's support for the Jabiluka uranium mine.

Related Topics:
1998 - Goods and services tax - Value-added tax - One Nation

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Howard's public image in 1998 had yet to achieve the status it would reach in coming years. At the November 1998 election the Liberal-National Coalition despite suffering a large swing and losing in the two-party preferred vote, narrowly won more seats in parliament. Labor leader Kim Beazley won a majority (51%) of the national two-party vote, mainly based on a scare campaign against the pain Howard's Goods and Services Tax would inflict on ordinary families, but the Liberals ran a more effective campaign in marginal electorates, aided by new campaigning techniques borrowed from the US Republican Party. Although One Nation had previously surprised commentators with a resounding performance in the Queensland election, the national campaign was poorly administered and One Nation failed to win any House of Representatives seats. Hanson herself was defeated after switching electorates to the redistributed electorate of Blair.

Related Topics:
1998 - November 1998 election - Two-party preferred vote - Kim Beazley - Campaigning techniques - Republican Party - Blair

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Second term: 1998–2001

Despite Howard's essentially domestic focus, external issues intruded significantly into Howard's second term. The first occurred in 1998 and 1999 with events in East Timor. Following the referendum in which the people of East Timor voted for independence, Australia contributed a significant peacekeeping/policing force to protect the inhabitants against pro-Indonesian militias, attracting wide praise both domestically and abroad.

Related Topics:
1998 - 1999 - East Timor

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Another major issue during Howard's second term was the implementation of the GST on most items except fresh food. This raised major concerns among many small businesses, who were not fully equipped to handle the accounting requirements of the new tax, which effectively off-loaded much of the day-to-day work of taxation accounting from the Australian Taxation Office to individual business people. However, the existing wholesale sales tax (WST) was removed, and the introduction of the GST was intended to introduce taxation reform. Howard was able to pass the GST legislation through the Senate after making a controversial deal with Senator Meg Lees, leader of the Australian Democrats, which party at that time held the balance of power in the Senate.

Related Topics:
Meg Lees - Australian Democrats

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During 2001 the Howard government's image was poor, due largely its focus on a lacklustre tax reform agenda which, while successful at improving the economy, was not politically popular at that time. 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. 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.

Related Topics:
2001 - Ryan - Queensland

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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. The government's action was intended to reduce illegal immigration and to stop what they saw as abuse of Australia's refugee program by "bogus" asylum-seekers. After the 11 September terrorist attacks, government hostility towards asylum-seekers from Islamic countries increased, and a climate of domestic insecurity and fear contributed to a rally of support for incumbent governments in Australia.

Related Topics:
2001 - MV ''Tampa'' - 11 September terrorist attacks

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The government introduced tough "border protection" legislation, some elements of which (though not the whole bill) were opposed by Labor in the Parliament. Howard then effectively used this as a "wedge issue" to portray Labor as "weak on national security". Beazley and the Labor Party found themselves in a difficult political position. An electorally significant fraction of the ALP's working-class voters backed the Howard line on illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers, while the party's middle-class supporters were overwhelmingly opposed to it. At the November 2001 elections the Coalition was re-elected, with a more comfortable majority than in 1998.

Related Topics:
Wedge issue - November 2001 elections

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Third term: 2001–2004

In the two years after the 2001 election the Howard government continued its policies of taking a 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.

Related Topics:
2001

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Even so Howard was able to re-introduce a First Home Owners Grant. The rather small grant encouraged Australians who had not previously owned a home to buy. This has of course resulted in a rapid increase in the prices of housing in Australia, leaving Australians with higher amounts of personal debt.

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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.

Related Topics:
Children overboard - Governor General - Peter Hollingworth - Anglican - Paedophilia

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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.

Related Topics:
2002 - 2003 - Simon Crean - Bali bombing

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In March 2003 Howard sent troops and naval units to support the United States and Britain 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 maintained Saddam's regime possessed. Australian opinion was deeply divided on the war and large public protests occurred. Several senior figures from the Liberal party, including John Valder, a former president of the Liberal Party, and Howard's former friend and colleaguehttp://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/political_transcripts/article_1622.asp, 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 was damaged in the eyes of some when by the end of 2003 no weapons of mass destruction were discovered in Iraq. Despite these controversies, Howard maintained strong support from large sections of the population and had begun to enjoy cult-status amongst the conservative population. No Australian military casualties occurred and many believed that Saddam's removal meant the war was vindicated overall (even though Howard had previously stated that Saddam's removal alone would never have been sufficient justification for invading Iraqhttp://www.australianpolitics.com/news/2003/03/03-03-13.shtml).

Related Topics:
2003 - United States - Britain - Invasion of Iraq - Saddam Hussein - Weapons of mass destruction - John Valder - John Hewson - Malcolm Fraser - War criminal

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During 2003-04 the Howard government was criticised for its involvement in the Iraq War and support for U.S. President George W. Bush. These criticisms came from figures such as former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and political commentator Robert Manne, as well as from within the intelligence community, the military, and the public service. On Anzac Day 2004 Howard made a 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.

Related Topics:
2003 - 04 - Iraq War - George W. Bush - Malcolm Fraser - Robert Manne - Anzac Day - Mark Latham

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On 18 May, 2004, Howard marked the 30th anniversary of his election to the House of Representatives. At a function in Melbourne, leading Liberals paid tribute to his leadership and his tenacity and persistence over his long political career. The anniversary also served, however, to remind voters that Howard had been in politics a very long time, and some commentators said it would help foster a "time for a change" mood in the electorate. The government's 2004–05 budget contained increased family payments and tax cuts for middle income earners, and contributed to a recovery by the government in the opinion polls. Howard also successfully exploited what he called Latham's indecisiveness over withdrawing Australian forces from Iraq, portraying this as a threat to the U.S.-Australia alliance.

Related Topics:
18 May - 2004 - Melbourne - 05 - U.S.-Australia alliance

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Fourth term: 2004–present

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 Liberal-National Coalition, led by Howard, 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.

Related Topics:
29 August - 2004 - 9 October - Simon Crean - Mark Latham - 2003 - Election campaign

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During the campaign, Howard attacked Latham's economic record as Mayor of Liverpool City Council, claiming that election of a Labor government would lead to higher interest rates. This claim was to prove vital to the outcome of the election, as increased home ownership due to the First Home Owner's Grant meant many more voters would be affected by interest rate changes.

Related Topics:
Mayor - Liverpool City Council - Interest rate

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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, however, 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. It was generally agreed by media and political commentators that Latham had the better of Howard in the sole debate during the campaign, and some opinion polls continued to suggest a very close race until the last days of the campaign.

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The result of the election was that the Liberal-National Coalition won an increased majority in the House of Representatives and also won a majority in the Senate from 1 July 2005, the first Government since that led by Malcolm Fraser in 1975 to do so. The strength of 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 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 new Christian-based party Family First.

Related Topics:
Malcolm Fraser - 1975 - Family First

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The speculation that he would soon retire in favour of the Treasurer, Peter Costello, immediately receded. On 1 July 2005 the new Senate came into effect, which appears to give the government the opportunity to pass the legislation which had previously been blocked in the Senate including:

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• Full privatisation of the 50.1% government-owned telecommunications company Telstra;
• A range of industrial relations bills such as those seeking to exempt small businesses from unfair dismissal legislation; increase individual employment contracts; weaken the power of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission;
• Revising media ownership laws so as to remove restrictions on media companies having control over multiple different media;
• In universities, the implementation of Voluntary Student Unionism and the reduction of the power of tertiary staff unions in negotiating employment conditions;

Since the election, John Howard announced far wider changes to industrial relations laws which have since been the subject of a national campaign by the union movement.

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Despite the coalition's majority in the Senate, a number of the proposed laws are in doubt due to the opposition that has been voiced by members of the Coalition such as Queensland Senator Barnaby Joyce who has threatened to vote against the sale of Telstra if certain conditions are not met to protect rural citizens, and who has raised concerns over States Rights issues related to the industrial relations announcements.

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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.

Related Topics:
21 December - 2004

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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. Labor leader Mark Latham remained silent while ill and on holidays. Howard is also credited with suggesting the national day of mourning on 16 January 2005 with people using a sprig of acacia for remembrance of those who died or were dispossessed.

Related Topics:
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake - Kevin Rudd - Australian Labor Party - Mark Latham - 16 January - 2005 - Acacia

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On February 22, 2005 Howard announced that Australia would increase its military commitment to Iraq with an additional 450 troops, breaking a campaign promise 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.

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Throughout the first half of 2005, the Howard government faced increasing pressure regarding its controversial mandatory detention program. It was revealed in February that a mentally ill Australian citizen, 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. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15410506-2,00.html and also at this time Howard faced backbench revolt from small numbers of his own government demanding that reforms be made.http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Howard-explodes-at-MPs-revolt/2005/05/24/1116700714825.html On June 2, it was revealed http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1383366.htm 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.

Related Topics:
Mandatory detention - Cornelia Rau - Palmer Inquiry - Vivian Alvarez - Peter Qasim

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