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.

Rising politician

John Howard grew up in Earlwood, a middle-class suburb of Sydney. His middle name Winston was chosen by his parents in honour of the British statesman Winston Churchill. His father, Lyell Howard, ran a petrol station and mechanical workshop in Dulwich Hill, a suburb near Earlwood. Lyell Howard died while John Howard was a teenager, leaving his mother to take care of the three sons. John Howard attended Canterbury Boys' High School and went on to study law at the University of Sydney. In 1971 Howard married Janette Parker, with whom he had three children. Janette Howard has kept a low profile during Howard's prime ministership, a stance partly enforced by health problems, but she is reputed to be a shrewd and influential adviser behind the scenes.

Related Topics:
Earlwood - Sydney - Winston Churchill - Dulwich Hill - University of Sydney - 1971 - Janette Parker

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After practising for some years as a solicitor and simultaneously holding office in the New South Wales Liberal Party, Howard was elected to the House of Representatives as MP for the Sydney suburban seat of Bennelong 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: he was known as "the boy Treasurer." In April 1982 he was elected Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party.

Related Topics:
New South Wales - Liberal Party - House of Representatives - Bennelong - 1974 - Fraser - 1975 - 1977 - 1982

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During his period as Treasurer Howard became a staunch adherent of the "dry" or "economic rationalist" theories associated with Margaret Thatcher, which derived ultimately from Milton Friedman and the Chicago school of economists. Like Thatcher, he adopted 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 unionism and privatising government-owned enterprises. These conservative views have dominated his subsequent career. He became frustrated that the more liberal and pragmatic Fraser — who in fact had more in common with Menzies politically than does Howard — would not embark on these radical steps. In 1982 he nearly resigned in protest at Fraser's big-spending pre-election budget.

Related Topics:
Margaret Thatcher - Milton Friedman - Chicago school - Neoliberalism - Libertarian - Unionism - Conservative - 1982

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~